Life with a Bat
by RoarMeow12
Summary: Dick has just been adopted by Bruce and is trying to adjust to the new life of being a playboys son and finding out his big secret.
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing! Reviews are welcomed and please be nice. Enjoy!

Dick Grayson could not believe how quickly his life had changed in the manner of a few weeks, he had just celebrated his birthday a month ago. But now his parents are dead, they had fallen to their deaths right in front of him. Because he did not tell anyone about Zucco and his threats towards the circus. He had spent days in a boys orphanage while the police tried to figure out what to do with him sense he was a gypsy and part of a traveling circus.

The police did not think they could leave a boy of six years old in the hands of circus freaks but they also could not speak to him. Dick was so far retreated into his mind over what had happened to his parents that he was only speaking Romanian and none of the Gotham police officers knew the language. So the child was all alone in a city he had never been to and with no way of communicating with anyone.

Currently little Richard was sitting on the bed he was given last night by the old lady running the orphanage. He had been sleeping on the floor because they did not have space for him. He had not slept at all in the night, the image of his parents bloody and broken bodies stuck in his mind. None of the other children tried talking to the acrobat sense he would not be able to speak with them anyway.

"Richard" called an elderly voice.

Still the boy stared into nothing not even acknowledging the elderly lady.

"I am sorry sir, but he is very traumatized. Maybe you would like to adopt a child that is not so damaged" suggested the elderly lady.

"No thank you madam. Excuse me, I think I will try talking to Richard" said a deep voice.

The young acrobat still did not notice anyone. Not even the man that kneeled down infront of him with sad eyes.

"Buna ziua Richard" greeted the unknown man. (hello Richard)

Dick was ripped out of his thoughts from familiar language. He stared up at the dark haird man questioningly but decided to not say anything.

The man gave a small smile, "Numele meu este Bruce." He said introducing himself. (my name is Bruce)

The acrobat gave a small nod in acknowledgment, why would this man be talking to him? He was very confused.

"Vrei să vii direct cu mine ?" asked Bruce as he looked around the room. (do you want to live with me?)

Still not sure what was happening Richard remained silent, he learned from the circus that you did not releave your hand unless you needed to. But think of the cricus had reminded him of his parents and he started to get sad. Slowly tears started to roll down his cheeks.

"Vreau ca mama și tata" sobbed the child. (I want mom and dad)

The man gave the boy a sad look, "I know Richard. Puteți vorbi engleza corect ?" he asked trying to change the conversation. (you know English right?)

The boy nodded slowly, "A little" he said.

"Come then. Let's get you out of here" Said Bruce standing a holding his hand out to the young boy.

Richard stated at this man. He felt a strange sense of safety from his mysterious attitude. Realizing that this man was going to give him safety the acrobat grabbed his hand and allowed the man, Bruce, to lead him to a waiting car and into a new life.

A few weeks later

The manor was huge and Dick had gotten lost a few times but thankfully the nice old butler always found him. Dick was currently sitting in the kitchen as Alfred made dinner. The old Englishman was very kind to the gypsy, way better than the kids had been at the orphanage. The acrobat still had a few bruises from them but the butler had bandaged him all up.

"Master Richard, dinner will be ready in a moment. Would you mind going to fetch Master Bruce?" asked Alfred as he pulled something out of the oven.

Dick looked up startled. He slowly got down from his chair and made his way to the study. Even though the man had taken him in Dick had not seen much of the billionair. He also did not know anything about Bruce Wayne. After all growing up in the circus that travelled all over the world and only being seven the young acrobat did not really pay attention to the elite.

When Dick reached the oak doors to the study he hesistated, he only seen the man all of three times sense he had arrived in the house. Bruce had mostly just avoided him. Granted Alfred was nice to him but the butler was still very strict on the way he acts towards his charges so he could never really have any fun with the elderly man. But he was a little scared that if he made Bruce mad that he would send him back to the oraphange so he did not try to bother the man.

The little boy knocked on the door hesitantly. He heard an annoyed reply and the boy gulped but he opened the door. He made his way in and saw the billionair hunched over the desk writing out reports. Bruce looked up when no one said anything and he saw the young boy that he had brought home weeks ago.

"Hello Richard" he tried to say pleasantly, he fealt so nervouse around the boy.

Dick just looked down at his feet feeling nervous, "Um… A-alfred…. Sa-ays that… dinner… is ready" stuttered the kid as he fidgeted.

Bruce let out a sigh and put down his pen, he hated that the boy was so nervous around him but he did not know how to fix that, "Thank you. Tell Alfred that I will be eating in here tonight."

The boy nodded quickly and dashed out of the room. Sighing again Bruce went back to his reports and tried to think of ways he could make the boy less nervous.

Several minutes later a disappointed butler came into the study holding a plate of food, "Master Bruce, you need to spend time with the boy."

Bruce moved his papers to the side to allow his dinner room, "I am busy Alfred." He said simply.

"Master Bruce, he needs your attention."

Bruce sent him an anooyed look, "Alfred, Dick is currently an eye witness for his parent's murder. I can't have peole seeing him in public. That is why we can't enroll him in school until next semester when all of this settles down."

"Fine then do something here. You could use a break from your extracurricular activities anyway"

Bruce just decided to ignore that last remark and started to eat his dinner signaling and end in the converstation. Alfred huffed one more time and left, but he knew that he got his charge to condisder his words. With a small smirk the butler made his way down stairs to the check in on his newest charge. He was disconcerted to see that the boy was eating at the giant table by himself and barely eating his food.

He hoped Bruce would hurry and figure out that this child is in need of him.

Later that night Bruce found himself laying in bed and wide awake. He had come back home after patrol early when there was no new leads in his case. He was a little confused as to why he was suddenly woken up. Suddenly he heard a scream and he was out of his bed and down the hall in seconds.

Alfred stood outside the door with a sad look on his face, he had arrived seconds before, "He has been like this every night sense we brought him in"

Bruce's chest constricted at this, he knew what it was like to loose your parents. The ngihtmares and the guilt was torture. He couldn't believe that he had not thought about this when he had been out in the city for every night. He entered the room and saw the young acrobat tossin and turning on his bed with tears running down his flushed cheeks as he screamed out in his first tongue.

Without relizing what he was doing Bruce wrapped the boy up in his arms and was trying to calm him down, "Shh Dick it will be alright" he kept repeating.

Slowly the sobbing died down and the boy started to wake up, "Bruce?" he asked confused.

The billionair gave a relived sigh and put the boy back down on the bed and tucked him back in.

The boy started to tear up again and he pulled the covers over his head trying to hide, "I'm sorry" he kept repeating.

Startled Bruce did not know what to do. He looked behind him to the butler who had disspapeard from the doorway. The billionair turned his attention back to the shaking sheets and tried to calm the boy down again.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked softly as he rested his large hand on the boys head.

The boy continued to shake, "I woke you up. Now you're going to send me back" he cried.

Bruce sighed again. He should have known that his ignoring of the child would not be good for him. But he did not know that he was having these kinds of thoughts. He would never send Dick back to that aweful orphanage. He had made a promise to himself to protect this child and he was going to keep it.

He softly pulled the blankes back and looked into water blue eyes and gave him a small smile, "I would never send you back. Do not worry about that"

Relief and hope seemed to floor though those sad eyes and the child launched himself into Bruce's chest and began to cry again.

That night Bruce made another vow, he would never leave this boy alone. The next day Bruce took Dick out into the city and showed him around. They had managed to avoid the paparazzi by going in disguise, sunglasses and hats, and went to the park and movies.

After that day it became a regular even for the two to go out and do something fun together or to spend a night at home doing a puzzle or watching tv. Needless to say Alfred was very proud of Bruce's ability to change for the child's sake.

4 months later- August

"Mastered Richard, please get up you must eat before you go to school" came a crisp and accented voice.

With a low groan the covers on the bed folded down, "Thank you Alfred" called out Dick to the ever loyal butler.

Yawning the seven year old got out of bed and put on the green uniform for Gotham Academy. After brushing his teeth and doing his hair he grabbed his back pack and slid down the banister to the kitchen.

"Master Richard please refrain from using the house like a jungle gym" came Alfred's voice from around the corner in the kitchen.

"You did not even see me" complained the youth as he sat down in a chair to eat.

"A butler knows his masters tendincies" said the butler with a small smirk as he placed a plate infront of him.

Dick rolled his eyes started to eat his eggs, "Where is Bruce? He is normally here before me" observed the child.

"Master Bruce had a long night and will be sleeping in a little later this morning" Said Alfred.

"He has had a lot of late nights lately, why does he not get work done during work hours" grumbled Dick.

Alfred have another smirk, "Master Bruce runs a very large company and has a lot of work that he must complete and has an image that he needs to maintane."

The acrobat rolled his eyes again and jumped up from the table, finished eating and went to wash his face before having Alfred drive him to school.

Later that week.

It was a Saturday and Dick was enjoying his day off with no homeowork. But Bruce was not home to play with him, he was over in Star city meeting with another business man. It was only the afternoon and little Dick was already bored.

"Alfred, can I play outside?" Dick asked the always present butler.

The Englishmen looked outside at the sunny weather and smiled down on his little master, "Of course Master Richard. But please do not wander to far" he said as he made his way back into the kitchen.

The young ward quickly ran out the doors after getting permission and ran to the trees, sense he was little he has always loved heights. Even after the death of his parents most people would think that he would hate being so high off the ground, but Richard loved being in the air like he was flying.

He was jumping from tree to tree doing flips and stunts while always making sure that Alfred could see him from the kitchen windows. He was not particularly high in the trees when he did another jump but was caught off guard by a yell from down below him.

"What are you doing?" called an unfamiliar voice.

Startled by the intruder Dick missed the landing and started to fall. Lucky the fall was only about ten feet and he landed on his back. After a few moments to catch his breath that got knocked out of him the young boy flipped up to his feet to look for the person that messed him up.

It didn't take long before the man came running over. He was dressed in a blue suite and he was large in build. He also had on some glasses that Dick could clearly see where just for looks and not prescription.

"What were you thinking? Are you alright?" the man asked as he looked down on the boy.

Richard glared at the man, "I was playing in the trees to answer your first question and second, I was alright until you threw me off"

The man seemed caught off guard by the boys words before he narrowed his eyes on him, "Well you should not even been up in the trees to begin with. Now why are you here? Bruce does not have any children" he observed looking the boy over.

Before Richard could answer Alfred came running out of the house, "Master Richard are you alright? I saw you fall. What happened you are not normally one to fall?" he questioned looking the boy over.

"It's that guys fault. He distracted me" grumbled the child.

Alfred just then noticed the other man's presence, "Oh Mr. Kent. To what do we owe this visit? Master Bruce is out of town for the weekend in Star City"

"I had a meeting with him for this afternoon" answered the reporter with a smile.

Alfred let out a small moan, this seemed to be a constant game with Bruce and Clark, Clark was always trying to talk to Bruce. But Bruce never wanted to talk to the overly happy man.

"You might have to reschedule he is not due home until tomorrow night" said Alfred.

All the while Dick watched the two adults, but he quickly grew bored of the conversation and climbed another tree.

"Great" groaned Clark, he then looked around, "So what's up with the kid?"

"That kid, is Master Richard and is Master Bruce's ward." Reported the butler.

Clark seemed surprised, "Wait Bruce adopted a kid? Wow wait til the others hear about this" he chuckled.

Alfred glared at the stronger man, "I would recommend that you keep this information to yourself Mr. Kent. Master Bruce has his reasons for not telling you."

The reported seemed to agree and rubbed the back of his neck nervisouly, "Your probably right. Does he know about-"

But before he could finish the question Clark felt an acorn hit him on the head followed by a chuckled. He looked up to see nothing in the trees but knew it was the boy he had just met.

"I don't think you made the best impression with Master Richard" chuckled the butler.

"Why do you let him play in the trees? It is not safe" said the reporter as he tried to look for the little acrobat.

Alfred seemed to grow serious again, "Master Richard was raised to things like that. He used to be in the circus but after an accident Master Bruce took him in."

Clark grew sad at those words, "I see."

Suddenly the young child jumped down from the trees right in between the two men, startling Clark but not the amused butler.

"Alfred when can we eat lunch?" the boy asked and punctuated with the growl of his stomach.

The Englishman chuckled, "It is ready now. Mr. Kent will you be joining us?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

Smiling his reporter smile Clark nodded and followed the two into the house. Over the course of the afternoon Dick and Clark decided that they could get along. They played several games of hide and seek and watched movies while Alfred cleaned the giant mansion. It was getting close to dinner when Clark got a phone call.

"Kent here"

Dick could hear the conversation because he was sitting next to the reporter on the couch.

"What are you doing at my house?" asked the familiar gruff voice of Bruce.

Clark chuckled, "Well I was here to get my interview. But someone seemed to have forgotten"

A growl came across the line making Dick giggle a little, "Get out Clark."

"But Alfred invited me to dinner and I can't say no to Alfred's cooking" replied the amused reporter.

"Clark!" came the irritated voice of the playboy.

Before Clark could reply his phone was pulled from his ear by the young boy next to him, "Bruce can Mr. Kent please stay for dinner? I had a fun day playing with him. Pleeaaasssee" begged the little boy.

There was a moment of silence then a deep sigh, "Fine. Dick give the phone back to Clark and go help Alfred set the table"

"Thank you" exclaimed the boy happily and then he jumped from the couch to the kitchen.

Clark laughed at how easily the boy was able change Bruce's mind, "He is an adorable kid"

Bruce chuckled, "Yea. Now why are you at my house? We did not have anything scheduled for today."

Clark stood up and went to a window to look out to the dark woods surrounding the mansion, "Well I thought I would check in on you. You have changed a lot in these last few months. There was a rumor that there might be a kid involved so I came to check it out. Do not think it was actually true though"

"How did you hear about that?" came the growled reply.

"Please Bruce I am a reporter. But don't worry I will not be reporting on it. Your mayor is throwing a pretty big party tonight so I thought I would check into that."

"Good. I don't want Dick to be exposed to too much media so suddenly." He sighed.

"That's understandable. But it might be easier if you announce it yourself than having some reporters turn it into a scandal. Oh yea J'onn wants us to get together on Monday."

"Right I will be there."

"Good. Alfred has dinner ready. See you on Monday Bruce."

The line went dead.

Clark made his way into the dining room and enjoyed an energetic dinner with the young acrobat. After that night Clark made a point to come by a least once a week to hang out with the loveable child and to check in on him for Bruce when the billionaire had to make appearances in other cities.


	2. Chapter 2

I still do not own anything. Enjoy!

Characters are a little OC mostly Bruce.

Two months later: October

It was after school and Dick was making his way from last period out to the main gate where Alfred would be waiting to pick him up.

"Well if it isn't pity case Grayson" came a taunting voice from behind him.

Last month Bruce had decided to make a public announcement that he had taken in Richard Grayson as his ward. Dick was happy because now they did not have to sneak around in town but it did come with a price.

Dick gave a heavy sigh and then turned to face the only boy in the whole school that seemed to have something against him. Dick was an energetic child and made friends easily and all of the teachers thought he was a genius with how quickly he grasped concepts. But somehow all of the attention on Dick caused one boy to take it upon himself to make sure that Dick's days at school where awful.

"Can I help you Josh? I am going to be late for my ride" said the acrobat.

Said boy, Josh, was eleven years old and a lot bigger compared to Richard.

"I was just curious how Mr. Wayne can deal with someone like you. So completely useless, you could not even be a circus freak correctly." Sneered the boy.

Dick hated when people made fun of Bruce. He was one of the elite in the city and people for some reason thought that they had to pry into the man's life and it really bothered Dick. He knew how nice Bruce was and did not like it when people criticized him.

"Well how could your father deal with such a dumb son? How does it feel to have a first grader in your math class and doing better than you?" asked Dick.

Dick had been moved up two grades and Josh had been pushed back two grades and they both had ended up in the same math class. With Dick being the model student and Josh barely passing.

"No one calls me dumb you brat" roared the older boy as he punched at the acrobat.

Richard easily jumped out of the way and doing a summersault over the older and taller boy. But Dick had not noticed Josh's two friends standing behind the leader and they quickly grabbed the acrobat. Josh quickly took this advantage and rained down punches and kicks on the smaller boy before throwing him into the lockers and running away before a teacher could show up.

Dick laid on the ground trying to figure out how badly he was hurt, this was not the first time that he was beaten up by Josh and his goonies. After all he was only seven and had no idea how to fight.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Quickly pulling out his cellphone from his pocket Dick answered.

"Master Richard, I am by the main gates." Came Alfred's voice.

"Sorry Alfred I forgot my books in the classroom I am on my way now" lied the acrobat easily. This was also not the first time he had to lie about being injured or being late to get picked up.

Hanging up Richard jumped to his feet and ran off to the gates where Alfred stood with the door open and ready for him. Upon seeing his young master beaten and bloody Alfred stopped him before he could get into the car, "Master Richard, what has happened to you?" he asked pulling out a handkerchief and whipping the blood off of Dick's face.

"I slipped down the stairs on the way here. I did not want to keep you waiting" said the boy with a smile.

Not entirely convinced but knowing that the boy would not change his story Alfred released him and started to drive back to Wayne manor.

Bruce stared at his young ward from across the table. Dick had several Band-Aids and bruises on his face. Looking to Alfred, the butler just shrugged his shoulders and poured Bruce a glass of water. They both watched as the normally energetic child pushed his food around on his plate clearly in deep thought.

Deciding that silence was not working Bruce cleared his throat ready to ask a question but was cut off by Dick.

"Why did you take me in?" he asked not looking up from his food.

Startled by the sudden question Bruce was speechless for a second, "What do you mean?"

Dick put down his fork and looked at his guardian, "Did you take me in just to increase your popularity with the people of Gotham or was it some political move? Because it was just a dumb thing to do"

The great detective was again caught off guard, "Why would you think that?"

"Some kids at school told me. The teachers also treat me differently than other students I know it is because you are my guardian."

Something clicked in Bruce's mind, "Are these the same kids that beat you up today?" he said becoming serious.

Dick tensed slightly and looked back down to his plate, "I didn't get beat up. I fell down the stairs."

Before either Bruce or Alfred could say or do anything Dick jumped up from his seat and walked upstairs to his room.

"Why would he not tell you that he is being bullied?" asked the butler as he picked up the untouched food.

Bruce gave a heavy sigh, "I think there is more to this. But I think he is afraid of me not wanting him anymore and sending him back. This is a constant fear of his."

"You must talk to him." Stated Alfred.

Bruce gave a nod and rose from his seat as well and followed after his young ward. He quickly made his way to Dick's bedroom that was only a few doors down from his own and knocked. There was a quiet response and Bruce walked into the room. Dick was sitting on his bed just staring at the wall.

"Dick have I ever told you about my past?" asked Bruce as he sat down on the bed.

Richard turned to look at him his blue eyes questioning.

"Well when I was close to your age I also lost my parents. They were killed right in front of me. I had no other family besides Alfred. I made some poor decisions as a kid some that I regret and others that I don't. But that was why I took you in Richard, you remind me of me." He said putting his arm around the small child, "I don't want you to make the decisions that I did"

Dick just looked down to his hands, "You really are dumb. You should have thought about how others would think about this. Everyone thinks you made a bad decision and all I do is make your image worse."

Bruce narrowed his eyes and grabbed Dick's chin forcing him to look at him, "I will never regret this decision. I am proud of you, I would never had been able to make as many friends as you already have and be so happy. I don't want you to become lonely and dark like I have" said Bruce constantly keeping eye contact.

Dick thought about all the Bruce had said and then gave his guardian a big smile, "Thank you for looking after me Bruce" he said and hugged the older man.

Bruce returned the hug with a small smile, "Now I think it is time you tell me about these bullies"

Dick nodded and explained to Bruce what had been happening to him for the last few months at school. After their conversation Bruce tucked the young acrobat into bed before going to make a few phone calls.

After that day Dick did not have any more problems from bullies.

It was Friday and Dick was super excited to spend his fist night of the weekend with his adopted father. Lately he and Bruce had been watching movies or going out to the mall and Dick was super excited.

"Bruce! I got an A on my math test" exclaimed the child as he ran into the study.

The billionaire looked up from his papers and smiled at the young boy, "Great job Dick. I think Alfred will have a special dessert for you."

The boy's smiled widened and he quickly ran from the room to reappear with two giant cookies, "He made cholate chip. Here is one for you Bruce" he giggled as he made his way over to the desk.

Bruce pushed aside his papers and pulled the boy up to sit on the desk to the side. Dick handed over his math test so that Bruce could look at it.

"Great job Dick, you only missed one." He smiled at the boy who was enjoying his cookie.

"Hey Bruce was are these paper for?" he asked looking at the blue prints for future Wayne Tech. technology.

"The scientist at work send these to me to approve or deny" he explained simply.

The boy seemed to be thinking of something before he turned a bright smile to his adopted father, "If I get good at science and math could I make stuff for you too?"

Bruce chuckled, "If you want to. Do what you want Dick."

Bruce quickly learned how gifted his adopted son is. When he was first enrolled into Gotham Academy they gave him an IQ test because it was unclear what type of education he received from the circus. Bruce had been afraid that the boy would be far behind until he got a phone call from the principle telling him that Dick would be moved up a least two years in most of the subjects and that he knew several languages. This kid was a genius and material that he did not know he was able to quickly learn.

"So what do you want to do to celebrate?" asked the billionaire.

The little boy put his finger under his chin while he thought of something. Bruce almost let out a groan when he saw the evil smile on Dick's face. The little boy jumped down from the desk and grabbed Bruce's much larger hand trying to pull him out of the chair.

"You have to help me and Alfred make dinner" he giggled.

 **Sorry that the story is kind of like a bunch of one shots right now but trust me it will all come together:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay. School has been crazy lately. Enjoy!**

It had been three weeks now sense Dick had seen his adopted father. He would go to work early before he woke and would not come home until after he was asleep. He was curious and concerned, there was no way Bruce was getting enough sleep. So Dick decided he would wait up for his guardian on this Wednesday night and talk to him.

It was now two in the morning and Bruce was still not home. Just when he was about to give up and go to bed he heard Alfred walking through the hallway, strange he went to bed a while ago. Curious now the acrobat slipped out of bed and followed the retreating shadow of the butler.

"Did he just walk into a clock?" Dick asked himself.

After waiting a couple minutes Dick ran up to the clock and opened it just like Alfred did and made his way down the stairs quietly. He soon found himself in a cave that was extremely dark, once he got to the bottom though he was completely surprised by the giant computer he found down there but he was more surprised who Alfred was talking to. Batman!

"Sir, you need to rest. You have been going without sleep for weeks. One night of rest is not going to send Gotham into chaos." Chastised the butler.

"Don't worry Alfred I caught the last of the criminals involved in the break out. I will be sleeping in late tomorrow."

Alfred gave a satisfied nod, "I have already made the adjustments to your schedule."

Richard continued to watch from the shadows as Batman went and typed on his computer and a list of criminals showed up and all of them had check marks next to them. But in the next moment all that Dick new changed, when Batman took off his mask.

"Master Bruce, I believe you might want to adjust your security for the cave" suggested Alfred.

"Why Alfred?" Asked Bruce distractedly as he continued to type.

Alfred smirked as he looked over to where Richard was hiding, "It seems a young acrobat has found his way down here"

Quickly turning around Bruce spotted Richard hiding by the stairs, "Dick! Come here now!" he growled as he glared at the young boy.

Richard jumped at the anger in the voice from his guardian, "You are Batman?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. Now tell me why you are up this late and snooping around in the dark" he said continuing to glare.

"I believe that is my fault master Bruce, I knew that young Master Richard was following but I thought it was time he knew about your nightly escapades." Answered the butler.

Bruce turned his glare on the butler, "We will talk later. Richard go to bed" he ordered.

Quickly the boy nodded and ran back up the stairs and into bed. After all of the excitement he quickly fell to sleep with dreams of Bruce being Batman and saving the day.

The next morning Dick kept glancing over at his guardian who was reading a newspaper. The young boy was so amazed that Bruce was the one he was always seeing on TV saving the day and protecting Gotham. He now idolized his guardian so much more than he did before.

"Dick eat your food." Commanded Bruce from behind his paper.

Quickly the acrobat turned back to his plate and started to eat. Still glancing over at the man on the other side of the table. With a huff Bruce put down the newspaper and glared at the boy.

"You will not tell anyone about what happened last night" he said with his batman voice on accident.

Dick quickly nodded very serious, "I would never tell"

Satisfied by the determined look in his eyes Bruce nodded and looked over at the clock on the wall, "Good. Now hurry to school or you will be late. Alfred is already at the car waiting."

After shoving a piece of toast in his mouth the child was gone.

Surprisingly Dick did not find it that hard to focus on school after finding out his guardian's secret. After all once he thought about it, it almost made sense, who else could afford all the toys that the batman uses. With a chuckle to himself Dick continued on his way to third period.

It was another weekend when Clark came by to hang out with the young acrobat. Bruce would be in the office all day to approve a new project and he had to postpone an interview he had to do with Clark for his newspaper.

"Uncle Clark! Batman is on TV" exclaimed the little boy as he bounced on the couch.

The reporter smiled at the boy and sat down next to him as they watched a re-run from last night, as the vigilante put Joker back in prison.

"Do you like Batman?" Clark asked.

He had heard from Bruce that the child had found out the billionaire's secret and decided to test the child to see how well he could keep the secret.

"Of course" exclaimed the child.

"Why is that? He does not even have super powers"

"It is because he doesn't. All the other super heroes have super powers but Batman uses his brains and shows that even a normal human can protect themselves." Said the child seriously.

Clark had a feeling that the boy had loved Batman before he even knew it was Bruce. But the child's next words made Clark Kent rethink anything he ever thought about this child.

"Besides Uncle Clark, I think it is kind of unfair how many super powers you have." He chuckled at the reporter's surprised face.

Clark quickly tried to blow it off, "I don't know what you're talking about Dick. I don't have super powers."

The boy stopped watching the Tv. He raised an eyebrow at the larger man. Quickly he jumped to his feet on the couch and put his hands on his hips, clearly unimpressed with the lie.

"Uncle Clark you might want to rethink your costume. A pair of glasses is not all that concealable." He said as he grabbed the non prescription glasses off of the stunned man's face and put them on his own, "I noticed the first time I met you that these were fake. The next week I was watching the news and you showed up as Superman. I figure it out pretty quick."

The boy jumped off the couch with a flip when he heard Alfred call them for lunch. He turned back to Superman and gave him a sneaky smile, "Don't worry I won't tell anyone" he tossed the glasses back and ran from the room giggling.

A month later Dick was getting ready for school again. They had winter break in a weak to celebrate the holidays and the New Year, Dick was very worried about what to get Bruce. Before he went downstairs though he stopped off at his guardian's door and opened it to see Bruce deeply asleep on the bed. He let out a chuckle and went down stairs to eat.

"I want to help Bruce" stated the young ward.

Alfred looked at him questioningly, "Whatever to do mean Master Richard?" thinking that the child was talking about a Christmas present.

Dick gave him a smirk, "I want to help Batman. He could train me in fighting or something. I just want to help him. He seems so busy lately and barely has time for sleep"

The loyal butler put down a plate of food, "you will have to discuss this with Master Bruce." He was not completely sure about the young child becoming a vigilante but if he already planned on doing it himself then he might as well be trained properly to protect himself.

"Of course Alfred." He laughed and then ate his breakfast.

Dick was sitting in fourth period when his whole day took a turn for the worst. The door smashed in and six men in clown masks ran in with gun ready. Several girls screamed and the teacher jumped in front of the strong men. But he was quickly thrown out of the way and the masked men laughed.

One of the men threw a grenade of some sort and Dick realized that he was getting really tired. As he fell asleep he saw some of the clowns walking through the rows of desks like they were looking for someone. Then he fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**two chapters in one day this is a record!**

"Mr. Wayne!" cried the secretary as she ran into the room.

Bruce and Lucius looked up startled from a report they were discussing. The billionaire just raised an eyebrow at the girl and she flushed from embarrassment.

"Um… Commissioner Gordon his here" she announced.

"Thank you Jennifer. Please send him in" he said as he put the papers away.

Once the girl left Lucius sent Bruce and amused look, "I think that your secretary believes you are a criminal."

Bruce just sighed, "She is new. She is not aware that Gordon comes here at least once a week just to check in"

Within a few seconds the man in question entered with an amused look, "New secretary?" he asked.

Bruce just groaned, "Yes. How are you Jim" he asked as he shook the man's hand.

Jim just smiled at the man, amazed at how well he grew up sense the night of his parent's murder, "Things are well. How is Richard handling the new spotlight?"

Bruce thought back to the day of the press conference, Dick had done well with all of the flashing cameras but Bruce knew he had been uncomfortable with the non-stop questions directed at him.

"He is doing alright. It will take some getting used to" said Bruce as the three men sat down.

Jim nodded in understanding, "I could imagine. He seems like a good kid though so you do not need to worry about him hurting your reputation"

Lucius spoke up about this, "If anything the young lad seems to help it. He is doing great in school and is not a delinquent"

The billionaire smiled at the two men, glad that Dick had made a good impression on them. Before they could continue talking Gordon got a phone call and excused himself for a minute.

Lucius gathered up the reports they had been talking about and made his way back to his office to make the changes. Bruce was about get ready to go to a meeting when Gordon came back in and worry was clear on his face.

"There was an attack at the school"

"Hello Kiddies" came a hysterical laugh.

Dick groaned a little, he had a huge headache from the sleeping gas and the laughing maniac was helping at all. His arms were tied behind his back and his ankles were bound to prevent running. But surprisingly there was also other kids from his school right next to him. He recognized them as the mayor's kid, senator's daughter and other kids of elites.

"What do you want?" asked one of the crying girls.

Joker just started to laugh, "I want money. Your daddies can give that to me"

The girls continued to cry. "Go rob a bank like a normal criminal" said one of the boys, who was a few years older than Dick.

The clown laughed again before answering, "But there is no fun in that. This way Batsy will have to get involved and I have insurance."

When there came no more remarks from the children Joker turned to one of his men that brought out a camera.

"Now we should send a message to your daddies. Now who are we going to use as the star in our movie?" asked the Joker as he looked over the children. Then his eyes fell on Dick.

He grinned his yellow toothed grin and pulled the boy up by his collar, "I know you. You're that new kid to that Wayne brat. Never messed with him before." He laughed again as he dragged the boy to the middle of the room, "This should be fun"

He threw Dick into the middle of the room and turned back to the kids and gave them another crazed smile while his henchman came up with a camera ready to roll, "Let's make a movie"

After Gordon had told him what happened Bruce had got home as quick as possible and down to the bat cave to start looking into where the clown would be.

He was looking through the footage of the school when the clown men had broken in and took the children for the fifth time when he heard a familiar beep in his ear. He pushed the communicator on.

"What?" he asked gruffly.

"Hey Bats. Supey told me to call you. Need any help?" came the familiar voice of Flash.

Batman groaned, the last person he needed was the happy voice of the scarlet racer. "No."

Flash gave a sigh, "Your man Joker teamed up with Gorilla Grodd. Grodd has a way to help Joker's laughing gas to make it more deadly if they can get enough money to get ahold of a certain chemical" said the speedster.

"What is the chemical?" asked the dark knight as he tried to narrow down his search.

"Don't know" came the scientists annoyed voice.

Before Bruce could reply one of his monitors alerted him to something. He looked at it and narrowed his eyes in rage. Quickly he ordered Flash to get to Gotham as quick as possible.

He clenched his fists at the sight of Joker standing over the top of Dick. He almost felt a drop of pride in him when he saw that the boy was not scared but mostly annoyed.

"Hello Gotham. I have decided to make a movie for you all. It is called….." he seemed confused for a moment, "Well I don't really have a name for it yet. But here is our star actor, little Dickie Grayson, and his supporting rolls are his classmates" the camera turned to show all of the other students and Bruce knew who they all were from their parents.

Then the camera came back to Joker, "Now that we have introduced the cast let's get onto the story. These little kiddies are waiting for their parents to come and rescue them. But the only way they can get rescued is if Joker is payed one million dollars each. Otherwise" at this point Joker gave an evil smile as he pulled out a crowbar and turned to Dick, "they might not make it back" laughed the Joker as he swung down.

The boys could be heard yelling in the background while the girls cried. But all Bruce had attention for was his adopted son who was now bleeding from a large cut on his arm. The boy squeezed his blue eyes shut as he tried not to cry out.

The Joker hit him several more times on the chest and sides as the boy tried to move out of the way of the blows. He finally stopped when Dick cried out after getting hit across the face hard. "Now remember Gotham. I want one million for each child" he said and then the signal cut out.

Alfred came running down the stairs to alert Bruce to the news feed but by the look on the bats face it was clear he already knew.

"Alfred have the money put together and go meet Gordon at the police station." He said as he pulled his cowl down and walked over to the batmobile.

Alfred nodded and left back up to the manor to get it put together.

Once on the snow covered road Batman called into Flash, "I just got into town. Where do you want to meet?" came Flash's voice.

To his right Batman saw the bat symbol in the sky, "Um… want to meet at the bat?" asked Flash chuckling a little at the symbol.

"Yes" was all the dark knight said and he made his way to Commissioner Gordon.

On top of the building the commissioner looked stressed as he waited for the bat as his breath could be seen from the cold.

"What do you have?" asked the Batman as he landed next to him.

Gordon jumped and turned around, "How can you do that in broad daylight?" he exclaimed.

Batman just raised an eyebrow, "Right. Well I am going to assume that you saw the news feed." As the dark knights nod he continued, "Good. One of my men spotted Joker by the warehouse district last week. We think that he has a new partner but we don't know who"

Batman nodded, "I think that he has teamed up with Gorilla Grodd. He is trying to make a change to his laughing gas. They probably have something big planned for the holidays."

Gordon looked surprised but not extremely surprised, this is Gotham, and "We also received a message from Joker. Payment is to be made by midnight tonight or he will start to kill the children." Now Gordon fully turned to the vigilante that he has come to trust, "My friend's kid is in there. He has lost enough in his life he can't lose his son now too. Please get them out" pleaded Gordon.

Bruce was surprised at his friend's words. Dick had definitely made a very good impression on the cop. Batman nodded, "I will get them." Then he jumped off the roof.

He was not surprised to see a man dressed in all red waiting next to the batmobile in an alley.

"So what's up?" asked the scarlet racer.

Batman walked over to the car and pulled up a computer screen and played the video for Flash to watch. Once it was over Batman pulled up a list of warehouses that Joker could potentially be in.

"Bats, who are these kids?" asked Flash not really up to date of the elite of Gotham.

The dark knight looked up from his computers and seemed to hesitate a minute, "They are the sons and daughters of Gotham's elite"

Flash seemed to think for a moment, "I don't remember anyone by the name of Grayson being an elite" observed the speedster.

Batman just ignored the statement and jumped into his car and started to drive towards the warehouses. Flash just shrugged and ran along side the black car until they stop at their destination.

"Do we know that he is here?" asked the Flash as he looked towards the sunset.

It always seemed like nighttime came faster in the dark city. In answer to Flash's question a maniacal laugh filled the air and the two heroes jumped to the shadows so they would not be spotted.

Creeping up to the furthest warehouse in the lot they looked through the windows and saw the purple clad clown and the children that were tied up. But to Bruce's dismay he could not see Richard anywere.

"Flash go in and rescue the children. I will take Joker. Watch out for his laughing gas" said the dark knight as he moved to the other side of the building to attack.

The scarlet speedster decided for Batman to make his move first, after all it was his city. After a few more minutes he heard the clown start to speak again.

"Hello Batsie! So glad you could make it!" laughed the clown as he stared at the shadow that had descened from the ceiling.

"What do you want Joker?" came the gravel voiced reply.

Joker seemed to think about this for a moment, "Well obviously a good laugh" he cackled and pulled out a gun and started to shoot.

Batman ducked behind some machinery and looked around the room. It was strange Joker had no henchmen around. It was just the clown and the hostages and no sign of Gorilla Grodd. Looking to the children he saw Flash making his way towards them while keeping an eye on the clown across the room.

Then Bruce seemed to figure something out, "Flash get away from them" yelled the Dark Knight.

But it was too late the children had already started to attack the scarlet speedster. Flash tried to get away from them without hurting them but was losing when they started to pull out Tasers and darts full of sedatives.

"Do you like it Batsie? My gas can now make them my hostages thanks to that ape" laughed the clown as he watched Flash run around the warehouse.

Bruce just growled and attacked the clown again throwing batarangs. He managed to surprise the clown with one that exploded in his face. Just as Batman was about to finish the clown off with chop to the neck to knock him out he was hit from behind by a very large mallet.

"Mista J are you alright?" asked the squeaky voice of Harley Quinn as she swung her mallet around with ease.

Joker stood back up and his normal smile was turned upside down as he glared at Batman. He pulled out his guns again and started to rapidly fire off rounds. The caped crusader jumped around to avoid getting hit but managed to get grazed on the shoulder. He managed to use a batarang to slice through the handle of Harley's mallet causing to fall on her head and knock her out.

The Joker just continued to laugh like a crazed person unaware that Flash had managed to knock out all of the children by confusing them into giving each other the sedatives when he ran in-between them. While the clown was distracted the speedster zoomed over and took the gun from his gloved hand.

Joker looked at his hand confused at were the gun hand went then he looked up just in time to see an enraged Batman punch him into unconsciousness. Quickly the two heroes tied up the clown couple.

"Call the police. I will look for the last child" said Bruce as he went to the look around the warehouse.

He went to opposite side of the giant building from where the fight took place. He noticed that one corner was strangely dark and turned on his flashlight. His heart stopped for a moment. Laying in a pool of blood was Dick. He was hunched over something and it looked like he had managed to break out of his bonds before passing out.

"Dick?" whispered Batman as he crouched next to the injured boy and rolled him onto his back.

Slowly one blue eye opened, the other was swollen shut, "B-batman?" came the shaky and scared voice.

Bruce let out a breath of relief that the boy was still alive, "Yes. Let's take you home"

The dark knight looked around and was surprised at what his ward was lying next to, a giant bomb that had the Joker's signature all over it.

Dick followed his gaze and gave a small weak laugh, "Don't worry. I already turned it off"

Surprised Batman looked down at the injured child. When he saw that the blue eyes were shut in unconsciousness he turned his attention back to the bomb. Quickly he checked the device and was already safely disengaged. Dick really did turn it off.

"Hey Batman, the police are almost here" said Flash as he zipped into the room.

The Dark Knight gave his colleague and sharp nod and stood up with the boy in his arms. Flash was instantly concerned about the amount of blood that was leaving the tiny body.

"Is this Grayson?" asked Flash as he pulled out some gauze from somewhere and tried to stop the bleeding from the cut on the boy's head.

Again Batman only nodded. Knowing he would not get anything more the grumpy man Flash said his good byes after checking that the kidnappers were securely bound and headed back to his own city in hopes of finding Gorilla Grodd.

"Batman!" came the cry from the commissioner as he ran into the warehouse with his men close behind.

The vigilante put his unconscious ward in the commissioner's arms, "He needs medical care quick. The other children are uninjured just sedated. They had a gas in them that had them under mind control, but it should be worn off by the time they wake up" he reported and quickly left so that he could go to the hospital Dick would be in.


	5. Chapter 5

**I still own nothing! Enjoy!**

Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent spent the whole night in the hospital next to the bed of young Richard Grayson while they waited for him to wake up. Clark had heard from Flash what happened and had raced to the dark city and met up with Bruce in the waiting room. The billionaire was not happy that the boy scout was there but he was more concerned about his ward.

"I heard from Alfred that he wants to help Batman" stated Clark suddenly.

"What?" Asked Bruce surprised.

Clark just smiled, "Dick is worried about you. He wants to help you. And judging by what Flash said about him disarming the bomb, he could probably be useful after some training."

"I don't want Dick involved in this world. It is too dangerous. He is only seven."

"Just think about it. I feel like you could either train him or he will go out on his own and get himself killed." Stated the man of steel.

Bruce nodded as he processed the words. Dick would do something like that, "I will talk to him"

They sat there for another hour when the small boy started to awaken. Bruce was on his feet and holding onto the small hand while he urged the boy to wake up.

"B-bruce?" came the quiet voice soon followed by blue eyes opening.

Bruce gave him a small smile, "I am here Dick. How do you feel?"

Dick waited a moment to figure out what on his body hurt, "I feel like I got hit with a truck. A lot" he chuckled.

Bruce let out a relieved sigh, if he was making bad jokes then Dick would be ok.

"Hey there kiddo. You sure gave us a fright today" smiled the man of Steel.

Dick looked over to his uncle, "Hey Uncle Clark. You were there to?"

"I heard about it from Flash, now I really want to know why you know how to disarm a bomb?" he chuckled.

Dick turned a little sheepish as he glanced at his adopted father, "I kind of get bored sometimes and play around in the cave."

Bruce groaned, "Dick I thought we talked about you being in the cave while I was gone"

Dick just laughed, "Well I want to help you so a trained myself on a few things"

Superman gave his friend a knowing look before he said his good byes and headed back to Metropolis.

A week later- Christmas

Bruce was amazed at what his house has come to. It had been year's sense they ever celebrated holidays, sense before Bruce's parents died. But Alfred was adamant that Dick would be raised like a normal child should, holidays and all.

Over the course of that month the wonderful butler had procured a tree and with the help of a young acrobat had decorated it and the rest of the house. It was now Christmas morning and after a long night of trying to get small child into bed Bruce was almost as excited as Dick.

The only child of the house was currently perched on Bruce's chest as he tried to get the man to get out of bed and go open presents.

"Dick, how am I supposed to get up with you sitting on me" he asked with an amused look.

The acrobat blushed and quickly jumped off of his guardian and then dragged him out of bed. The two made their way down the stairs, Bruce wrapped in a thick robe and Dick still in his flannel pajamas. Alfred the ever proper butler was dressed in his usual garb and was ready with a cup of coffee for his oldest charge.

The trio made their way to one of the many living rooms but this one was the once with the tree. Dick was sitting in front of the tree and Bruce sat down on the couch as he watched the glowing child.

"Can we open them now?" begged the child, he had been asking all week to open presents early.

Alfred chuckled at the boy's excitement, "yes you may"

Quickly the child went through the presents and surprised Alfred and Bruce by pulling out two packages that were clearly wrapped by kid and handed one to each man.

"I know it is not much sense you have all the money a person could want. But I hope you like it" said the child quietly after he convinced Alfred to sit down so he could watch him open his gift.

For Alfred he got him a new pocket watch that had a picture of the three of them on the inside. He had remembered the butler talking about how his current one was starting to act up. Alfred gave a fond smile to the young boy, he could always keep his charges with him even if they were out on a dangerous mission.

"Thank you Master Richard" said Butler as he made a big show for the child of replacing the watches on his person.

Dick was ecstatic that Alfred liked his gift but now he watched hesitant of what Bruce would say. He had talked to Uncle Clark on many occasions about what to get for his guardian. But the alien had no ideas to give the young boy and the same went with Alfred, after all Bruce could buy anything he wanted.

Bruce opened up the box and saw what looked like a book. It had a black simple cover but no words on it. Confused the billionaire opened it and noticed that it was a photo album that was empty. He turned a questioning eye to his charge who looked still kinds nervous.

The boy was looking at anything but his guardian as he explained the gift, "I know that we both have kind of dark pasts. But I want to have a bright future with you Bruce. You and Alfred are the best thing to happen to me and I don't know what I would have done after my parents died." The boy seemed to gain his confidence and locked eyes with his guardian, "So let's try to remember that we can always have a bright future. Use that photo album to help you remember the happier times" smiled the boy.

Bruce was at a loss for words after a second before he smiled a true smile and gathered the boy in his arms, "Thank you Dick."

The rest of the morning held a nice a warm feeling for all three residence in the large manor. Bruce couldn't help but feel that when he took in Dick that the boy was not the only one being saved.


	6. Chapter 6

**I still own nothing.**

 **Just after New Years**

"Are you all packed Dick?" called Bruce's voice from down the hall.

The acrobat appeared at the door, "Yep have been for thirty minutes. Me and Alfred have been waiting on you" he huffed.

Bruce just chuckled as he zipped up his suit case and made his way downstairs. Alfred helped Richard put on his jacket and then they made it out to the town car.

Once inside and all the luggage stowed Alfred started to drive from the manner.

"Alright Dick as we agreed, if you want to train to be my partner you will also be required to attend Bruce Wayne meetings. This will help you later on." Said Bruce as he started to pull out some papers from his brief case.

He handed them to Dick, "You need to be informed on the politics constantly, villains always seem to care about politics. As well as knowing who are the business men are and their trades. It would be strange for a weapons company to suddenly start trading in fashion." He continued to say.

"These papers are the business leaders and politicians of Gotham. This way you will be informed of our enemies or potential victims." He then pulled out a newspaper to read while Dick studied up.

After two hours Dick huffed and put all the papers back into a neat stack, "That was boring" groaned the boy.

Bruce just chuckled and grabbed a candy bar from his brief case to give to him. After quickly finishing it off Dick started to look outside the window. They had just crossed into Star City.

"Now remember Dick. Be on your best behavior these men and woman will look for any sign of a weakness. Just smile and use your manners and you will be fine. But I need to get you introduced to this world so that you can be helpful as my partner." Said Bruce as he straightened his tie and helped Dick put his on.

Soon Alfred pool the town car up the Queen Industries. Dick recognized the name from the hundreds of files Bruce had just given him. Queen Industries was owned by billionaire Oliver Queen. He is a star in his city and everyone loves him.

The front of the building was swarming with reporters trying to get a word in with billionaires that were meeting. Bruce stepped out and Dick could already hear the reporters trying to gain the man's attention. But Bruce just ignored them and helped Dick out of the car.

"Mr. Wayne is this your son?"

"Does his name imply anything?"

"There was a rumor you were covered in bruises a while back. Why is that?"

"Dick what do you think being Bruce's ward?"

Dick was getting really annoyed with the question once they started getting directed at him. These people were just cruel. He is not even eight and they are asking him if he is being abused or if his name has some hidden meaning.

He was surprised when he felt Bruce's hand rest on his shoulder. He looked up to his adopted father who gave him a small smile and Dick gave a small nod in understanding, this is one of the things he needs to get used to if he wants to be Bruce's partner.

Within moments they were in the buildings and they could no longer hear the reporters. The building was huge and had a let of tech in it making Dick excited. He loved to play with technology.

"Bruce! So glad you could make it" called a man from across the room.

Looking over Richard saw a man a few years younger than Bruce, he was blonde with a beard and had a warm smile. The man was in a black suit and holding a glass of what Dick guessed was champagne.

"Good afternoon Oliver. Thank you for the invitation" greeted Bruce as he shook the man's hand.

Oliver's smile widened when he saw Dick standing next to Bruce, "You must be Richard. Pleasure to meet you. Glad to see Bruce has decided to take on the parenting role" he chuckled as he shook the boy's hand.

Dick didn't know how to reply to that so he just said hello. Oliver then grabbed the boys hand firmer and pulled him away from Bruce's side and put his hand on the boy's shoulder to steer him to the other side of the room.

"This way Bruce." He called back laughing as Bruce rolled his eyes and followed.

Dick was a little surprised by the man but came to like him with the way he picked on Bruce and was playing with Dick. They were in a board room waiting for the others to come and join them so Oliver had pulled out some of the technology that his company was producing and showed it to the boy.

"I heard from Bruce that you like to play with technology. Here are some prototypes of some new computers we are thinking of making" said Oliver placing the objects in front of the boy.

Dick was instantly fascinated and he started to tinker with them to see how they work. Bruce and Oliver just watched him. After a few minutes a man in a uniform from Oliver's company walked in.

"Sir the others will be here in two minutes. Sam is going to escort them"

"Thank you Mike" said Oliver then he turned his attention back to the child, "Hey Dick you can play with those during the meeting if you promise to be quiet"

Dick instantly looked over to Bruce to get permission to play with his new toys. Bruce thought about it for a few moments.

"Sorry Dick I need you to pay attention" he said regretful to take away the boy's entertainment.

But surprisingly the boy just smiled then turned his attention back to Oliver, "Thank you for the offer Mr. Queen but like Bruce said I need to pay attention"

Oliver was surprised at the boy's excitement to sit through a boring business meeting and couldn't help but smile back.

The blonde picked up the prototypes and placed them on a desk in the back of the room when eight men and woman walked in. The three woman instantly placed themselves next to Bruce and Oliver but luckily Dick was sitting between the two men or he would have had to sit next to one of the women. He did not like them. Girls had coodies after all. Dick looked around and he noticed that he recognized all of these people as politicians from both Gotham and Star city. But the man that was currently standing at the head of the table he did not recognize.

"Ladies and Gentlemen my name is Mr. Randol. Mr. Queen thank you for letting us use your facility for this meeting."

The blonde gave a nod. Then Mr. Randol looked at the rest of his audience and his eyes rested on Dick.

"Excuse me but who is the kid?" he asked a little rudely.

Bruce gave him a winning smile, "Excuse me Mr. Randol this is my ward Richard. I thought it would be good to get him into the rhythm of things."

Randol seemed a little relaxed by that but was still confused why the child was there, "Oh ok. Well I will continue on then. My company has been the leader of the research of the Meta human project. With your consent I would like to move my facilities to either one of your cities with your financial help of course." He said with a shy smile.

He pulled out some folders and handed them to the adults to go over his information and history of the company why he continued to show a power point with projected profits as well other things needed. Bruce skimmed over the material, he had already done his research on the man and just decided to pretend like he was paying attention. Dick wanting to know more took the file and started to read through the material.

After an hour and a very boring presentation Randol turned to the adults of the room, "You have all the information of my company and the projections we can offer. Are there any other questions you may have?"

The woman sitting next to Oliver spoke up, "How long would it take to begin building these new facilities?"

Randol smiled, she seemed interested, "We could start as early as this month."

The Politian's of the room continued to ask other insignificant questions while Oliver and Bruce just listened and waited. After another half hour of going through the more important details everyone in the room turned to the two business men. The ones that would actually be funding the project.

"I see what Wayne Tech could bring to your company but I do not see what you are bringing to mine or Oliver's for that matter" stated Bruce as he leaned back into his chair comfortably.

By this point Dick had finished reading the file that Randol had given out. He was now listening to what the man had to say and learning as much as he could.

"Well my research could also help in the development of both of your companies. Either in the technology you create or just in the manufacturing" sated the scientist.

Now it was Oliver's turn, "But you only need one of us to fund you. Now which company would you prefer?" he asked sending a small smile to Bruce who just rolled his eyes.

The scientist started to sweat a little bit but luckily the Politian's answered that by fighting over which city should be the one to house such a breakthrough in research. Dick was slightly confused by some of the information that he had heard and read from the man.

"Hey Bruce" the child whispered as he pulled on Bruce's sleeve to get his attention while the other adults fought.

"Yes Dick?" he asked turning to his ward.

Dick pulled out the file and flipped it to a certain page, "I don't get this. That man says that they conduct research on prime specimens." He said pointing to the line, "But I thought a Meta human was someone like Superman. So how do they test?"

Bruce gave a child a smile and ruffled his hair, "Good job Dick" he whispered.

"Excuse me Mr. Randol. But I am curious as to where you will be obtaining your research material and how you have been getting it up until now?" Bruce asked the scientist.

Randol looked a little surprised, "Oh um.. well you see volunteers come to us who want to help advance the science" he stuttered.

Bruce narrowed his eyes at the man and continued to question him about the research material. Dick slightly annoyed with the lying man turned to Oliver.

"Mr. Oliver, isn't there already something called Star Labs here in Star City that does their own research? I thought they were the only one funded by the government to do this kind of thing?" he whispered to the blonde.

Oliver let out a laugh and looked to the young boy with a smile, "Right you are. Mr. Randol I do believe your research is considered illegal seeing as Star Labs are the only ones in the country allowed to do this kind of thing. I am sorry, but Queen Industries will not be partnering with you today." He said and then stood up.

Bruce stood as well, "That same can be said for Wayne Enterprise."

The scientist turned red in the face. He was about to leave the room when suddenly officers came swarming in. Bruce pulled Dick to his side to keep him from running off. The officers quickly arrested the scientist and escorted the Politian's out of the room. Leaving the two billionaires and Dick.

"Sorry Mr. Queen, Mr. Wayne, but it seems that your potential business partner was conducting illegal activity. We just received video evidence from Batman of Gotham and the Green Arrow." Said the detective.

"Do not worry. We already figured that out thanks to this little man. The scientist was an idiot if he got found out by a six year old" chuckled Oliver as he ruffled Dick's hair.

"I'm seven" grumbled the boy as he pushed the hand off of his head.

Bruce laughed at his adopted son's expression and then the officer left.

"Sorry about making you come all this way for nothing" sighed Oliver.

"Yeah to bad we did not know about his schemes beforehand. It was an annoying drive to make out here" grumbled Bruce as he grabbed his brief case.

Dick turned to the two adults with confusion and they both looked at him. "What's the matter Dick" asked Bruce with a smirk on his face. He knew what Dick was about to say.

"Mr. Oliver if you would have given that evidence to the police earlier none of this would have happened" he stated simply.

"My boy, what are you talking about? I had no evidence" he laughed trying to blow it off.

Dick turned to Bruce who was smirking and decided to continue, "But aren't you the Green Arrow? After all you are a billionaire of a company that creates technology that the Green Arrow uses and your beard is kind of a giveaway" said the child with a small smirk of his own.

"That is quiet the imagination that you have" said Oliver laughing nervously.

Dick just raised his eyebrow at the adult, "I may be a kid but I am not dumb"

Bruce let out a small laugh, "Don't worry Oliver he did the same thing to Clark"

Oliver just groaned, "Well how did he figure you out then?"

Bruce chuckled, "My Butler" was all he said.

"So you want to help Batman? Aren't you a little young" asked Oliver as they waited for their food to arrive.

Oliver had offered to take them to dinner so he could get to know Dick more. The news had been all over them after they left the company so Oliver took them to a special restaurant that caters to the higher class. Thus no cameras.

Dick just shrugged, "I did not know there was an age limit"

Oliver laughed loudly at this, "He is so your son. Only someone that has to live with you would have this type of personality."

Bruce just glared at the billionaire. Dick just shrugged it off and looked out the widow to the skyline of Star City.

"Is there room for one more" came a familiar voice.

Dick whipped around, "Uncle Clark" he exclaimed and jumped out of his chair to give the man of steel a hug.

"Hey there Dick. How was the meeting?" Asked Clark as they took their seats.

Oliver chuckled and told the whole thing to him.

"Nice job on figuring it out Dick" congratulated Superman, now dress as Clark.

Dick looked at him confused, "Bruce and Oliver already had it figured out."

"Yes but that took us weeks. You got it an hour" observed Oliver as he ate some of his salad that just arrived.

Bruce smirked at his ward, "besides Dick that was a test to see how quickly you would figure it out. I would say you passed and I think we can start training as soon as your arm is healed"

Dick's Birthday- March

The whole day so far had been pleasant to Dick. He went to class and they sang happy Birthday to him. Alfred had made him special pancakes for breakfast and Bruce had wished him a happy birthday as well. But for the most part Dick was feeling a little sad. This was his first Birthday without his parents. They had made plans to teach Dick a new move on the trapeze.

"Master Richard?" called Alfred from the front seat of the car as he watched the acrobat in the back from the review mirror.

Richard snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh, yes Alfred?" he asked.

"How school today?" asked the butler clearly seeing the boys despair.

Dick just shrugged and looked out the window.

Back in the Batcave the dark Knight was talking to an over energized Flash. It seems that he was informed from Superman that he had adopted a son and the red clad hero had managed to put together the pieces after looking at the news that Richard was his son.

"Please Bruce. We just want to meet the kid!" begged the speedster.

Batman pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, "No Barry. He does not even know who you are and besides he is busy"

Just then Clark appeared on the screen, "We know it his Birthday Bruce. We just want to celebrate with him, after all being you son I doubt he has many friends." Joked the man of steel.

Bruce glared at the two heroes, they did not realize that Dick would not be up to hang out with people. This was the boys first birthday without his parents and he was not going to be the normal happy child.

"NO" he said angrily and hung up on the two heroes.

He got a notification that Alfred was back from picking up Dick and Bruce ran upstairs to change out his vigilante costume. Once he got down to the door the two had just made it to the door.

"Hello Dick" greeted Bruce trying to be happy for the sad boy.

Dick just looked up at his guardian and then walked up the stairs leaving the two men in the doorway.

"He has been like this the whole day" sighed the butler sadly.

Bruce just nodded in understanding, "Alfred ready the car. We are going out" then he followed the boy up the stairs.

When he reached the door he saw Dick sitting on the bed and looking at the picture of his parents that he always kept on his nightstand. The boy was trying hard not to cry and it broke Bruce's heart seeing him like this.

"Dick change out of your uniform. We are going out" he informed his ward.

He just nodded and slowly got up to change into a pair of jeans and a black long sleeve shirt and met Bruce downstairs where Alfred stood with his jacket. They loaded up into the car and the sullen boy just looked out the window not even acknowledging the conversation that Bruce was trying to have with him.

After twenty minutes they pulled up to an iron fence and Dick looked around confused. They were at the graveyard. Turning questioning eyes to his guardian he saw that Bruce was already out of the car and holding the door for him.

They quietly walked through the tombstones until they arrived at the familiar headstone. Dick instantly fell to his knees. Bruce had taken him to his parent's grave. Any other person would think of that as a horrible birthday gift but Dick was not any other person, he was so happy to have been able to see them.

Silently Bruce handed him a bouquet of white roses, Dick's mother's favorite, and then walked back to the car with Alfred close behind. Dick stared at the bouquet in shock for a few minutes before placing them on the grave.

"Hey mom and dad. I am eight now! I wish you guys were here. Wow it has been a while. I have met some really nice people sense I last saw you like Uncle Clark and Bruce. Bruce is so nice, he has taken me in and is watching over me. So don't worry mom I am taken care of. I am going to public school now and it is a little different but I like it." For the next hour Dick talked to his parents about everything that has happened over the month's sense their funeral.

When he was done Dick felt a little better, he had gotten to talk to them and it makes him feel more at ease. But there was still that emptiness in his heart that he knew would take a while to be fixed if it ever would be. He walked up to the car and saw the Alfred and Bruce were standing outside waiting for him. Bruce gave him a small smile and opened the door for him and they rode back to the manor. It was starting to turn into night time and Dick felt a little sad the he knew Bruce would be going out on patrol in few hours.

"Dick I have a surprise for you" said Bruce as they walked back into the manor.

He led the confused boy into the large gym in the manor and the boy was surprised to see the room was remodeled with a trapeze and gymnastics rings and uneven bars. He turned to Bruce, the man gave him another small smile.

"Happy Birthday Dick. This is for you to start training. I want you as my partner as soon as possible" said the dark knight.

Dick threw himself into Bruce's arms, "Thank you so much Bruce, for everything" he cried all of his emotions throughout the day getting the better of him.

Bruce just held him in his arms quietly just happy that he managed to make the boy smile for a little bit that day.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is slightly OC but the idea came to me and I had to write it.**

 **I own nothing**

 **It had been 3 months sense Richard's Birthday and it was now summer time in Gotham. -June**

Bruce narrowed his eyes as he watched his ward spin around on the trapeze with ease. It did not ease the billionaire at all when the dark haired boy would purposefully fall from the great height and try to grab onto one of the support beams on the way down to test his reflexes. Lucky Bruce had insisted on the net for instances where the boy fell. Which was very rare and far between.

"Hey Bruce!" called the giddy child as he dismounted from a balance beam he had jumped onto and came running over.

"Yes?" asked the dark night.

Dick seemed to get a little hesitant on what he was about to ask, "well…um" he stuttered.

The playboy raised in eyebrow in amusement, it was rare to see the child so shy.

"I was wondering if I could go to the watchtower. Uncle Barry and Uncle Clark want me to come and show me around" he asked hesitantly.

Bruce sighed, the other founding members had asked him the same thing. He did not want Dick to be going up to the watchtower yet. There were still many heroes there that did not know about Bruce's adoption and he wanted to keep it that way. Especially when only eight of the leaguers, (Superman, Wonder woman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Arrow and Aquaman) knew his real ID, he could not fully trust that Dick would keep it a secret yet.

"We will see. You are still not done with your training yet. And only heroes are allowed up in the watchtower" said Bruce.

Dick thought about the answer for a moment before he gave a big smile, "That just means I need to train harder" he exclaimed and then ran back over the trapeze to continue to practice.

Bruce chuckled and then left to go down to the batcave and started to do his reports on the last mission with the Justice League. He made sure to leave the monitor in the gym always close at hand in case something happened to the little acrobat.

Dick had just started his training a month ago and he was only able to perform basic self-defense moves as well as work on some of his acrobatics. Before Bruce would let him out into the field the boy needed to be able to fight and think well under pressure. So he still had a ways to go.

He was watching Dick preform a triple summersault when he got a transmission. He pulled up his cowl and answered with groaned at the smiling face of the Boy Scout, "What do you want Clark?" growled the Dark Knight.

Superman continued to smile, "Can we take Dick to the beach?"

Bruce just glared at the man, "Why"

Before the blue clad hero could answer Hawkgirl jumped in front of the screen, "Come on Bruce. We all know that you are not letting that kid have any fun. He needs to be a normal kid. Come with us to the beach" she all but growled.

Bruce thought about this. Dick had only been training for this last month and Alfred had been on his case about taking the boy out and being normal for once. Maybe taking him to the beach would be good for him and swimming could also be another form of training for the boy.

"Come on Batsy!" wined Flash as he now appeared on the screen as well as the other founding members.

Bruce sighed again, "Fine. When do you want to do this?" he growled.

"'Right now!" exclaimed Flash and then a few moments later they were all zeta beamed down into the batcave and Bruce growled at them in annoyance. He did not like people in his cave.

"You can't go out like that" said Bruce pointing at all of their costumes, that would attract a lot of attention in the middle of the day.

"Do not worry Master Bruce, I have already prepared clothing for everyone and Master Richard is almost ready as well" came the accented voice of the familiar butler.

Bruce glared at his longtime friend but now that he knew Dick knew about what was going on he could not say no. So everyone made their way upstairs to change.

They were all in a limo that Alfred was driving and they had set up a spot on the beach with coolers of food for lunch and drinks. Before he drove back to the manor Alfred informed everyone that he would be back around dinner time. Bruce sighed, it was only 10 in the morning. They would be spending all day at the beach and he could not get any work done.

He was sitting at a picnic table and reading a book while the other heroes played in the sand. Barry and Dick had run to the water and were trying to splash each other while Diana and Hawkgirl tanned. Clark, J'onn and Green Lantern went to go get ice-cream.

Two chapters later Bruce was pulled from his book when Dick came running over covered in sand and a bright smile on his face, "Bruce come play with me!" he exclaimed latching onto Bruce's arm and trying to pull him from the table.

Bruce gave him a small smile, "What do you want to do?"

Dick squealed in delight, "Volleyball!"

Flash was by their side in an instant with the ball in hand, "Let's go Brucie! I have always wanted to play you" he joked.

Superman and everyone made their way over to the trio amazed to hear that Batman would be playing with them. Normally the bat would just be hiding in the corner if they could even get them to go on an outing with them, which has not happened in years.

"Who will be the teams" asked John looking around.

Dick grabbed onto Bruce's hand, "Bruce is on my team!"

The others laughed, "Ok so Dick, Bruce, Superman and John can be one team. Flash, Diana, Shiera and I can be the other" stated J'onn as he went to stand on the side.

The child seemed satisfied with this and then the game started. Flash served the ball over the net and John hit it over to Bruce who set it up in the air for Dick to hit. The acrobat managed to surprise all of the adults, except Bruce, by jumping in the air and doing a flip so he could get the momentum and smashed the ball into the ground.

"wow kid." Gasped Flash as he stated at the smiling kid.

After an hour of the heroes playing they were all exhausted for Superman and Diana.

"Not fair using super strength" whined Flash as he laid on the sand gasping for air.

John hit him over the head, "says the one using super speed to hit the ball harder"

Dick laughed at the heroes as he wiped the sweat from his face and looked to his mentor, who was currently in the middle of a debate with Clark about what super powers are ok to use in public versus others. Dick just giggled and ran over to his Uncle Barry.

"Uncle Barry can we eat lunch, I am really hungry. Alfred said he packed us some stuff" asked the child, knowing that the speedster was always hungry.

Barry eagerly agreed and the group found themselves seated at the picnic table with plates of watermelon and sandwiches. After eating they decided it was time to cool off in the water, they of course waited half an hour before going swimming.

Bruce, Superman and J'onn had decided to stand at the shallows and just watch the others. They did not find swimming as fun as a certain child and speedster. Diana was currently sitting on top of Barry's shoulders and Shiera was on John's while Dick cheered for both teams in the game of chicken. Bruce rolled his eyes the Justice League's antics and hoped that Dick did not turn out like some of them when he got older. After Shiera had successfully knocked the amazon princess and speedster into the water she hopped of the lantern's shoulders and pulled the laughing child into her arms and launched into the sky. Making him squeal even louder.

As she swooped around in the sky with the happy child and then took him back to the water where he did a few back flips into the water and tried to teach Flash some of his acrobatics. Bruce watched on, glad that he had been forced to come down to the beach. Clark saw his friend's almost smile and laughed and slapped him on the shoulder.

"You need to get out more Bruce. The kid needs it just as much as you do." Said the Boy Scout.

Bruce just rolled his eyes, "hey J'onn I need your help with something" said the dark knight to the Martian before he walked back to where they had set themselves up by the picnic table.

"Uncle Flash let's have a race" exclaimed the child.

Flash smiled, he loved races, "Ok what kind of race?"

"Swimming duh" laughed the child then he turned to John, "Uncle John can you make us a finish line in the water?"

The Green Lantern nodded and used his ring to create a flag about fifty yards off shore not too far.

"Don't cheat Flash" called out Hawkgirl from the skies as she dried her wings.

Wonder woman stood in front of the two races and began to count down and at three they took off towards the flag. Superman swam up the princess with a questioning look.

"Dick has decided the race Flash in swimming contest" she chuckled.

"Barry you're cheating" came Hawkgirl's annoyed voice from the sky.

Superman turned back to the two and already saw that Flash had already reached the flag and was on his way back. Dick was not too far behind but the other could see the clear signs of the speedster's powers. Clark chuckled and dove under the water. Right when he was under the blonde he grabbed his foot and pulled him under the water with him.

The startled speedster thrashed around trying to get out of the unknown hold. Unaware that Dick had just passed him. Superman smiled and released the hero who quickly came up sputtering water. Then he heard the yells of congratulations and looked to see Dick being raised in the air by John.

Superman resurfaced and Flash just smiled at the man, "That was mean" was all he said.

The Kryptonian just rolled his eyes and they made their way back to the group.

"Where is Bruce?" asked Dick as he walked back onto the beach.

Before anyone could answer the kid was hit in the side of the head with a water balloon. He squealed and turned around to see J'onn and Batman armed with water guns and water balloons.

The next water balloon hit Superman right in the face causing Flash to laugh hysterically. Soon it was a war and Dick had run to his mentor's side and teamed up with them while they fought the other super heroes.

The rest of the day passed by in the same fashion as the heroes played on the beach. Alfred had arrived when he said he would and drove the exhausted group back to the manor. Bruce had invited the heroes to stay for dinner at Dick's insistence and they happily agreed to be able to spend time with the energetic child.

Soon after dinner Bruce took the sleepy acrobat up to bed and he was asleep in minutes. He came back down stairs to see his colleagues still in the manor. Alfred led them all to the sitting room and they all were given a cup of coffee.

Instead of asking why everyone was still in his home Bruce just stared at them. Finally Superman put down his coffee and took a deep sigh.

"Bruce we know that you are training Dick to be your side kick" he stated.

The dark knight just raised his eyebrow, he had told them that was the plan, so was a little confused at what his friend was getting at.

J'onn tried his hand at explaining things, "What we are trying to say is that, Dick is still young and you have a lot to deal with being both Batman and Bruce Wayne. We are here to offer our support. If you need help let us know he is still a growing boy and you are only one man"

"I still think that he is too young to be involved in this" huffed Diana but she wanted to help make Bruce's life easier if she could.

The protector of Gotham put down his coffee and leveled all the founding members with a steady stare, "I will let you know"

The others smiled, in Batman talk that meant, thank you and I will call you when needed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok I wanted to add a little author's noted before the next chapter started. I recently started to re-watch the Justice League tv show with my roommates. So I will be implementing a lot of that story line in this story soon because it gave me a lot of fun ideas :)**

One year later. Richard is now nine years old.

"Master Dick we need to leave in ten minutes" called Alfred up the stairs to his youngest charge.

In response he heard a door shut and hurried steps approach the stairs before he saw the energetic nine year old slide down the banister.

"Sorry Alfred" came the guilty voice when Dick saw Alfred's disapproving look.

The elderly butler gave a heavy sigh before guiding his charge outside to the car. They made it to Gotham Academy in half an hour where Dick was starting his first day of middle school. The young acrobat was excited to start this New Year, not because off the idea of more education but because of a promise Bruce had made him a year previously.

He had undergone Batman's training for the last two years after repeatedly begging to get trained or threatening to go out by himself to fight crime. So Bruce decided to give him proper training with the promise that if he met his requirements then the boy could go on patrol with him.

Bruce had given Richard his last test last week and had decided that it was time for the boy to join his side. Dick did not know when he would be get to start patrolling with his mentor but he was excited to know it was soon.

Alfred had already shown him his costume after he had decided on his name. Robin, the nickname his mother had given him as a child.

"See you after school Alfred" chirped the raven as he jumped out of the car and ran into the building.

"Have you found out anything?"

Bruce growled at the reporter who was standing in his office. He had seen the Boy Scout the other night at an observatory. The building had exploded and they had seen a strange occurrence. Three people who should have died from the explosion easily got up and walked away after having fought off the two super heroes.

The billionaire huffed as he put his paperwork down on his desk, "Not yet. And I would appreciate it if you would not come to my work place"

Clark had the decency to look sheepish, "Sorry. But I am also here for work" He said as he pulled out his recorder.

Bruce raised an eyebrow at this, he did not know that he was going to be having an interview with the papers. Especially a Metropolis newspaper.

"There are reports that you were seen last night with an up and coming actress. I was sent by my boss to find out the details" he said with a sigh.

Superman knew for a fact that the CEO was not out with anyone last night because he was too busy being Batman. But to keep up both of their civilian ID's they played along with each other. Bruce of course decided to play along with what the rumors had to say about him, after all it made a good alibi if anyone had been thinking he was doing other things.

After answering few questions the reporter left with the promise of stopping by soon to visit Richard. Bruce rolled his eyes at his only friend, not that he would ever admit that. The billionaire turned his attention to one of the many pictures of Dick that he had sitting on his desk, his favorite one was from the time at the beach a few years ago. Barry Allen had somehow taken the picture while Bruce was not paying attention but he was thankful for it after all it was one of many wonderful memories with his adopted son.

Dick had been training hard for these last few months and he was proud of the progress the boy has made. He wished that he would never have to show the innocent child the horrors of the world but he knew that the boy was stubborn. He was more impressed that he was able to make the boy wait one year. But he knew Dick was getting restless and would probably start acting out soon if Bruce did not live up to his end of the deal. So he would be taking out his protégé tonight on his first patrol.

"Mr. Wayne, your three o'clock is here" came his secretary.

With a sigh the billionaire stood up and straightened his suit before heading off to his boring meetings.

Nighttime in Gotham.

"Dick are you ready yet?" asked Bruce as he stood up from the batcomputer.

He heard quick footsteps behind him and quickly turned around to see a small form running at him. But instead of an attack he was given a tight hug. This was something Bruce was still trying to get used to, his son was a very affectionate child and Bruce was not very good at displaying emotion. But he was trying to get better for Dick's sake. He looked down and saw Dick's bright blue eyes were hidden behind a domino mask and his normally gelled back hair was ruffled and Bruce placed a gloved hand on the boy's head with a small smile on his face.

"Ready for patrol?" he asked as they separated.

Dick did a back flip from his excitement as he gave an affirmative. Bruce waited for the boy to settle down before getting down to business.

"Do you remember the rules for tonight?" he said seriously.

Dick quickly sobered his mood, "Listen to everything you say. If we see Joker I have to return home immediately."

Pulling down his cowl Batman nodded, "Let's go Robin"

The night passed peacefully. Well peaceful for Gotham. Batman let Robin nab a few purse snatchers by himself and they stopped a bank robbery with ease. It was just past midnight and the duo were perched on top of Wayne Enterprise with binoculars while watching the streets.

"Hey is that the batsymbol?" asked Robin as he gestured to the familiar beacon in the night sky.

Batman without saying a word took off towards the beacon with the boy wonder close behind. Commissioner Gordon jumped when he saw the Batman appear out of nowhere. He really hated when the bat did that.

"Batman we have a pro-. Who is that?" the head of police asked when he noticed the young boy next to the dark knight.

The boy stepped forward with a mischievous smile, "The name is Robin. Nice to meet you"

Gordon had no idea what he was supposed to do. He looked to Batman for his unspoken answers.

"He is my partner." Was all the man in black said, "Now what is the problem?"

Gordon was not extremely concerned, "Wait how old is this kid?"

Robin crossed his arms in offence, "This kid's age is none of your concern"

The commissioner did not turn his attention away from the dark knight.

"Gordon, he is ready for this. Now tell us what the problem is or we will be leaving" Said Batman with a hit of annoyance on his normally angered voice.

Realizing that now was not the time for this Jim quickly passed along the information that Penguin was going to be having a shipment of guns come into Gotham in the next few days. Batman nodded before leaving the commissioner so that he could go look into this further.

"Time to head back" said Batman as they got into the batmobile.

Robin was bubbling with excitement from his first night of crime fighting. Bruce was happy that it had gone well and they did not have any run in with Joker. After arriving home Alfred was quick to usher his youngest charge to bed, it was still a school night after all. But not before Dick hurled himself into Bruce's arms.

"Thank you" smiled the young boy.

Bruce returned the hug after a moment. He had been hesitant about this whole partner thing and training Dick. But right now he was glad that he did it. He just hoped he wouldn't come to regret it later.

A few weeks later

Dick woke up to the manor shaking. He not unused to earthquakes but waking up to his bed shaking and things falling off the walls would still startle anyone. Without changing out of his t-shirt and sweatpants the boy ran out of his room looking for Bruce or Alfred. He knew that he should be hiding under a table or in a door jamb but he needed to know that his family was safe.

"Master Dick" called Alfred from the bottom of the stairs.

Ignoring Alfred's rule about the banister Dick slid down the first floor next to the butler's side, "Where is Bruce?"

"He is safe. We need to move down to the cave" Alfred said urgently as he guided the boy to the study.

Understanding the urgency in the older man's voice Dick followed. Once down in the cave the new vigilante saw what was causing the quakes. Aliens.

"What are those?" asked Dick as he brought up several news stations from all over the world all showing the same phenomenon.

White, three legged and ten story tall aliens were walking around earth zapping and crushing things. He could see a few of them parading through Gotham. The police were trying to evacuate the area but there was no way to out run these large beings.

"Dick" The monitor came to life with Batman on the screen.

"Batman, what is going on?" asked the young boy confused while Alfred fiddled around in the background.

Batman frowned slightly, "I don't know yet. But I need you and Alfred to stay in the cave"

"What about Gotham? Those things are on a rampage!" exclaimed the boy.

The famous batglare was settled on the boy, "Do not leave. You do not have the training for this."

"Then I am supposed to let the people of Gotham die without doing anything?" argued Dick not at all liking what his mentor was saying.

Batman pulled off his cowl which made the boy pause, Bruce would never do something like that with the potential of being revealed, "Dick, I need you safe. Stay in the cave."

Realizing how serious the situation was the boy nodded. He did not want to worry Bruce unnecessarily especially if he was going to be fighting these things.

"Fine I will stay here with Alfred" he said then gave his father figure a big smile, "Go kick some alien butt"

Bruce smiled at his son before pulling his mask back on. He cut out the call but Dick traced it and found he was in Metropolis city. The news report was already live on the scene of several Justice League members trying to fight off the invaders.

He could see his uncles and aunts fighting hard to try and win. But it was a losing battle. Even if they did manage to win Metropolis it did not help with the attackers against the rest of the earth. Alfred came up Dick's side and presented him with a sandwich.

"We will have to just trust in Master Bruce. Our job right now is to wait for his return" said the wise butler.

Dick was impressed with what the loyal butler had to deal with on a nightly basis. After all he was not out in the streets fighting but was given the hard task of waiting for his family to come home each night.

So for the next few hours Alfred and Dick watched as the world was overrun with aliens and their close friends and family fought their best. It seemed that the founding members had come up with a battle plan as they split off into groups to try and take down the large base that the aliens dug into the earth.

"Robin" came Bruce's voice over the comm link that was set up with the batcave.

"I'm here batman" said the young crime fighter.

They could hear fighting in the background, "I need you to catalogue and analyze what you see through my body camera" came the gruff voice of Batman.

After clicking a few buttons the video feed from the lenses on Batman's cowl appeared on the screen along with new reports, "Ok got it" said Dick.

For a long hour Dick and Alfred watched as the Justice League snuck through the enemy base.

"Wow those things are creepy" said Dick as Bruce fought against white, gooey things.

Alfred nodded in agreement but did not say anything so as to not distract the bird typing away on the computer. The fight took a turn for the worse when Batman managed to get a hold of a red pod looking thing.

Wonder Woman, J'onn and Batman tried to escape. But the doors were closing quickly and Dick could see that Bruce was not going to make it. When the door shut Dick jumped from his seat as he watched his mentor get surrounded by those why gooey things. They all fired at once with no way of Batman surviving.

"Bruce!" cried out the young boy as the body cam went dead.

Dick tryped desperately on the computer trying to get some kind of signal that his dad was still alive. All the while Alfred could only watch on in fear and sorrow.

Luckily this was only for a few minutes before a very broken off connection reached the com link, "Dick! Calm down!" said the dark night.

Dick stilled instantly and looked up to the screen. There was no video of Batman but he could at least hear him.

"Bruce! Are you alright?" the child asked as he dried his tears quickly.

They could hear movement in the back ground before there was a reply, "Yes. I need a pick up though. I sent you my coordinates"

Elated that he was not losing another family member Dick ran to the batmobile and engaged the auto drive, after all he was not technically allowed to drive yet. But the car could drive itself.

It took a little over an hour to get around all of the destruction of the alien invasion. The black car pulled up to a destroyed building and Dick glanced around the area for any of the enemy.

"Batman?" He called out over the com link.

Robin jumped slightly when a shadow dropped over the car but he quickly recovered when he realized that it was just batman. He unlocked the car and the dark knight was buckled in with the car already on the way home in moments.

"How is Gotham?" Batman asked as he ripped off his torn cowl, that explained the video going out.

Dick shrugged, "How do you expect with all of these aliens around? But the people of Gotham are strong so they should be fine for now"

Batman nodded in agreement as they continued the rest of the drive in companionable silence. When they came into the Gotham city limits is was evident that many of the building were destroyed but for now the aliens seemed to be content with standing guard and not attacking too much. They made it the batcave without problems where Alfred greeted them with a warm smile.

"Glad to have you back" said the Englishman.

Bruce gave small smile at this, "Good to be back. But we need to move quickly."

Bruce set himself down at the computer and started to pull up the videos of his fight with the aliens. He needed to think of a way to help the others before things got worse. He was joined by Robin as they analyzed the data that they had so far.

After an hour they could not come up with anything.

"I am not feeling the aster" groaned the nine year old as he rubbed his eyes.

Bruce did not acknowledge the comment as he continued to zoom in and out of certain parts of the video and typing out notes. Alfred spent the hour observing the news reports for any new information that might be able to help.

Dick gave a deep sigh before jumping out of his chair into a back flip. He was never a fan for sitting around for long periods of time especially in such a high stress situation.

"They blocked out the sun quickly. I wonder how long it will take for that stuff to go away" observed the boy as he watched the news feeds over Alfred's shoulder.

Bruce glanced over at the screen as well, "Not too long I would think. Our natural wind currents would be able to dissipate it in a matter of minutes."

Robin nodded in understanding, "This would be easier if those aliens destroyed themselves" he said causally before stretching his fingers and going back to work.

Batman paused as he thought about what his partner said. Then he started to pull up some of the notes he wrote down and a few pieces of footage from his body camera and the news.

"Good work Robin" Said the Bat before he dashed across the cave to look through his gadgets.

Dick watched his mentor go with a confused look, "What did I do?"

Instead on answering the dark knight pulled out a small box and showed it to his butler and son, "You just solved the puzzle"

"An ion charger disrupter?" asked the boy wonder.

Batman nodded as he started to fiddle with the gadget, "If the ion charge can be reversed then the aliens will not be able to create the smog"

The charger beeped and was ready to be used. Batman hooked the gadget onto his belt and turned around ready to get into the batmobile and help his teammates. But he was stopped by a quiet voice.

"Please come back" whispered Dick as looked down at the floor from Alfred's side.

Bruce hesitate for a moment before kneeling down to the boy's height. Dick was not looking him in the eye but Bruce could see that the boy was upset. This was one of the most dangerous things Batman had done so far and the boy was still upset from when he thought that Batman had died.

The white knight of Gotham gently raised Dick's chin so the boy was looking him in the eye, "I will come back, promise. Now I need you to stay down here with Alfred until I get back"

The nine year old nodded before wrapping his arms around Bruce's neck. Wrapping his arms around his son Bruce glanced over towards Alfred who had a small smile on his face. Even though the world could potentially end the elderly butler was happy to see cold hearted Bruce Wayne thawing.

"Good luck master Bruce" called Alfred once the two broke up their hug.

Batman quickly jumped into the batmobile before anything else could be said. In his review mirror he could see Dick's upset form being consoled by Alfred. Bruce knew he had to keep his promise to the boy, he was not going to let him down.

Two days later-

It was two in the morning when the batmobile finally drove into the cave. Batman turned into Bruce in less than a second as he pull off his cowl. Alfred as the always faithful butler was waiting for his master.

"Is everything settled?" asked the Englishmen.

Bruce gave a tired nod, "Yes. The ring leader was destroyed and all the stragglers have been dealt with. We should have no more problems."

Alfred seemed happy with that, "Very good sir."

"Where is Dick?"

With a deep and sigh the butler gestured towards the med bay, after all they had been on lock down in the cave for a few days so they had been sleeping on the medical beds in the cave. Bruce quickly changed into a spare pair of sweats that he kept in the cave for working out before making his way over to his son.

He found Dick sleeping restlessly on the uncomfortable bed. The boy was pale and Bruce made a mental note to ask Alfred if the boy had been eating the last few days.

"Richard" called Bruce softly as he shook the boys shoulder gently.

The nine year old groaned before slowly opening his eyes. His blue eyes widened and he was in Bruce's arms in less than a blink.

"You're back" exclaimed the child.

Bruce stood up with the boy in his arms as he walked up to manor. He took them up to Richard's room and settled the boy in a much more comfortable bed.

"We will be busy for a while" said Dick sleepily as he snuggled under the blankets.

Bruce ruffled the boy's hair, "It will take a while to rebuild the city."

Dick smiled, "I think school will be cancelled for a while"

The billionaire chuckled, "Well then you get to sleep in tomorrow. Good night"

He received a slurred good night in reply before he heard his son's breathing even out and deepen into sleep.

One Month Later-

Many of the cities across the globe managed to rebuild themselves with the help of the justice league and donations from many companies like Wayne Enterprises and Queen Industries. Batman and Robin where even more busy with having to manage the crime of Gotham while the GCPD focused on rebuilding.

But as the crime rate rose so did the popularity of the newest crime fighter, Robin. Many people became opposed to the idea of the young vigilante. Including their own friends.

"He shouldn't be out there" argued Diana as she slammed her fist onto the table.

They were up in the watchtower and in the middle of a founders meeting when the princess could no longer hold her opinion on the matter. Batman sat their silently, he has already been dealing with the negative media about having a young partner but he did not care.

"You knew I was training him" stated the dark knight.

Wonder Woman was not going to let up, "Yes, for when he became a man and wanted to make the decision himself. Right now you are forcing him to do something that he should not be doing"

Batman gave her a blank look for a second, "I did not force him to do anything"

Hawkgirl scoffed at that, "Of course you did. No child would want to spend his free time in life threatening situations"

Before the argument could progress into a fight Superman stepped in, "Let's wait for a moment" he said looking at all of the angry superheroes before turning his attention to Batman, "We have all come to care for the kid and don't want to see him get hurt" he tried to say diplomatically.

The famous batglare settled on the dark knight's face, "Do you think I want to see him hurt? I gave him months of hard training to try and prevent that"

"He shouldn't be hurt in the first place" yelled Stewart in outrage, "You should have waited until he was an adult"

J'onn who had been observing for a while spoke in his normally calm voice, "I do not know much about this planet but I do not understand why Robin should not be allowed to do what we do?"

Diana was quick to answer before anyone else had a chance, "Because it is child endangerment. A child should should be innocent for as long as possible until they are aware of what decisions that are making"

J'onn decided that even with that explanation he would probably still never understand and decided to just observe.

"Princess has a point. The media is all over this wanting to know why heroes are ok with endangering children." exclaimed Green Lantern as he pulled out a newspaper with a similar head line from the New York Times.

"Well that is their opinion" stated Batman simply, he did not care what others think, if he did then he never would have become Batman.

For the next half hour the leaguers continued to argue. Superman tried to help alleviate the situation but the Boy Scout was getting nowhere. The girls had just finished a long winded explanation for why Robin should not be allowed when the super noticed that there was one person they had yet to hear and opinion from. With one last chance at ending this and moving on to other matter Superman called out to the fastest man alive.

"Flash, what do you have to say about this?"

The scarlet speedster seemed to get jolted out of a daydream as he looked around the conference room. He could see everyone staring at him and gave an annoyed sigh before standing up.

"I don't see why we are involving ourselves in this?" he said simply.

Hawkgirl looked confused, "They are heroes. What they do will reflect on us"

Flash chuckled at that, "I don't see a nine year old at the table. Robin is not a league member, for all we are concerned with he is just like we were before making this club"

Diana did not like the side the speedster was taking, "So you agree with letting Richard risking his life? What if your nephew was out doing the same thing?" she exclaimed.

Barry shrugged, "If Wally really wanted to fight crime and was willing to put everything into it like Dick has then I would train him."

"You can't be serious" stated the Green Lantern in disbelief, "He doesn't even have powers"

They could the growl from Batman at that comment.

Flash ignored the comment as he turned his attention to Batman, "I just have one thing to say though"

Batman had been surprised at how serious the normally childish speedster was acting. So he was willing to listen to what the man had to say, after all he was willing to speak up for him.

Flash smiled brightly, "If you guys ever need anything I will be there in a flash" he said with a wink.

The dark knight was caught off guard by the statement and nodded with a small smirk he nodded to his teammate.

"Good. Now was there anything else we needed to talk about?" Barry asked the rest of the group.

When no one replied Flash made his way to the door, "Ok well today is Wally's first soccer game. So see ya later" he said before speeding off.

All of the other leaguers looked to Batman before Superman called the end of the meeting. The dark knight was out of the room quickly so that none of the other members could continue their debate with him.

"How did the meeting go?" asked Alfred as he brought Bruce a cup of coffee in the study.

Bruce glared over the top of his stack of paper for the next Wayne Industries board meeting, "It will take a while for them to get used to the idea"

The Englishmen understood where the league members were coming from after all, he himself had not wanted Richard to become part of the crime fighting world. But after witnessing the boy training and how Bruce's personality has changed for the better the butler could not really deny that this might be a good thing for the both of his charges.

"Just give it time sir" said Alfred, before walking out of the office to tend to other things.

Later that night

Down in the Batcave the two heroes of the night were working on their latest case.

"Well it is good to know Uncle Clark and Uncle Barry are ok with the idea" stated the annoyed nine year old when he heard how the meeting had gone.

Batman could understand Robin's feelings. After all what business they have saying what he could or could not do? He is Batman, he does not care about what others think. But instead of saying any of this the dark knight decided to have the boy turn his attention on the case.

"Did you find anything on the kidnapping cases?"

The bird nodded, "I don't know who is behind it but there has been recent activity over by the warehouse district that might be worth looking into. They might be holding them there"

Batman looked over his partner's notes before agreeing, "Let's go"

 **I hope you liked it. I will be updating this story a lot more. Sorry for the long wait.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everyone. Sorry it has been a while. I was binge reading/watching Black Butler because my sister and I are going to the new movie in a few weeks and I kinda forgot to update my stories. Super sorry. But here you are!**

 **I own nothing. Very little proof reading.**

 **Leave me a request if there is something would like to see in this story, my plan is to take this all the way up until the end of season 2 of young justice so I have a lot of room to work with.**

 **Enjoy!**

Robin was training in the batcave while Batman was going through some files when an emergency signal came through. Surprised the bird quickly pulled on his mask in case it was someone that was not aware of their identities, Batman gave him a nod of approval before connecting the call.

They were both surprised to see a worried and desperate Flash on the other end. The normally bubbly speedster looked ragged and that instantly put Batman on edge.

"Flash, what happened?" he asked in an urgent tone.

The fastest man alive jumped when he heard the dark rumble of the bat, he did not know the line had connected, "Batman! I need your help!" the man exclaimed before he seemed to look at something off camera and the background started to change quickly behind him.

The bat was already working on trying to trace the call of the running man, "What happened?" he repeated while Dick quickly changed into his Robin gear.

"It's Wally! There was an accident and now he has super speed" cried the scientist as he continued to run after something.

Batman narrowed his eyes in thought, "Your nephew?" he asked to clarify.

"Yes! I need to catch him or else he will hurt himself. He took off running right after he got hit by the lighting." The red clad hero explained, "I need to stop him from running around or he could seriously hurt himself"

The dark knight nodded in understanding. If the kid did not stop running then he would not be able to recover from the lighting attack and his body is not used to his metabolism and might destroy himself. The trace finally connected and Batman could see the speedster was running across the Pacific Ocean on his way back from Europe.

"Try to herd him towards Gotham and we will be able to trap him" said Batman before changing the call to his commlink and hurrying to the batmobile.

"Ok I should be able to get him there in ten minutes." Said Flash before signing off.

The batmobile made it the edge of town in five minutes and the dynamic duo quickly went over their plan of action. Just as they determined how to stop the teenage they got a call from Flash.

"We just passed central he should be there any second" said the blonde.

Batman looked into the horizon and could make out the smoke of a speedster running towards them, "I see him" reported the dark knight before pulling out a few gadgets from his belt. Just as Robin could see a blur right in front of them Batman tossed out several ice grenades. These were similar to the ones that they would use on clay face and the teenage did not stand a chance when he stepped on them and his feet froze to the ground.

Now the young meta human was not moving the two heroes of Gotham could see that the young red head and run through his shoes and his feet where bleeding and his face stained with tears. His clothes were barely hanging on by a thread and his body had several cuts and bruises from running into things.

"Wally" called a familiar voice and in the blink of an eye Barry Allen was next to his nephew and holding him in a fierce hug.

The red head held onto his uncle like a life line as he tried to grasp what had happened. His frightened tears where slowing down a little bit now that he had stopped running. After he had calmed down a little bit Barry pulled away to look him over and catalogue his injuries. Satisfied that the boy was not about to drop dead the blonde turned his attention to the two vigilantes that stood off to the side.

Wally also took notice of the two dark figures for the first time while his uncle spoke to them, "Thank you so much for stopping him"

Batman crossed his arms over his chest, "What are you going to do now?"

Looking down at his still frightened nephew Barry sighed, "I will have to teach him on how to use his powers so this does not happen again"

The dark knight seemed satisfied with this answer for now. Before anything else could be said Robin skipped over to the boy that was probably three years older than him. The red head stared at the kid trying to understand what all had happened to him and who these people where.

"Hey nice to, meet you" said the youngest as he held out his hand, "I'm Robin"

Finally, Wally was able to put the pieces together, "Oh my god your Robin and Batman of Gotham" he exclaimed excitedly.

Barry chuckled at his nephew's comment while Batman raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

Robin giggled as well, "Yep! Are you going to be joining Flash now that you have super speed?" as the nine-year-old.

Wally did not know what to say to that, he had only gotten his powers less than a few hours ago and he had just scared himself half to death with them. But Barry saved him from answering.

"Slow down Robin. He first needs to learn how to control his speed before he can even consider fighting crime."

The young crime fighter seemed to realize what he had asked and blushed slightly in embarrassment before moving back to Batman's side. Realizing that they were not needed anymore Batman turned towards the Batmobile knowing that Barry would be able to get the teenager out of the ice when they were ready.

Bruce and Dick where sitting at the breakfast table on Thursday morning when the billionaire got a call about a business contract in Spain that was having some difficulties being negotiated.

"Alfred, I will need to leave by tonight and will not be back until Monday to handle this" groaned the CEO after getting off the phone.

The loyal butler seemed hesitant for a moment, "Master Bruce I regret to inform you that I will be gone this weekend as well"

It took Bruce a moment to remember that Alfred had already made plans earlier this year to be gone for this weekend for his niece's graduation.

"But I can always go later" assured the butler quickly.

"No, I will not do that to you." Said Bruce determined to not ruin his long-time friend's plans before turning his attention to Dick, "Would you like to spend the weekend with Clark?"

The acrobat smiled brightly in excitement to spend the weekend with his favorite uncle. Pleased with the response Bruce quickly called up the boy scout who was equally as excited about the idea.

Later that afternoon Bruce was letting Clark into the mansion. After all they could not have Dick missing school and it would be easy for Clark to fly back to Metropolis for one day.

"Uncle Clark!" exclaimed Dick as he ran into the large man's arms.

The man of steel ruffled the young boy's hair before putting him back on the ground. Bruce's eyebrow twitch at the interaction he hated seeing his son so friendly with the Kryptonian but he would never say that out loud.

"Ok here are the rules not patrolling in Gotham" said Bruce while he glared at the alien, he did not like other heroes in his city, "No pizza and bed time is ten o'clock tonight. You can stay up late this weekend"

Dick have a salute and quickly pulled Clark further into the mansion to play some games while Alfred and Bruce went to the airport.

Friday Night.

Clark and Dick were sitting in the game room playing a video game when Superman's emergency signal went off. Pulling out the beeping comm link Superman spoke to J'onn, who was on monitor duty.

"Ok kid I need to go but I will be back soon." He said as he stood up after a quick conversation with the Martian.

Dick stood up as well and crossed his arms over his chest, "I want to go to" he stated.

The man of steel chuckled, "Sorry bud but Bruce said no patrolling."

The boy wonder gave an evil grin, "He only said no patrolling in Gotham. Where are you going?"

Understanding what was happening the alien gave a sigh, "Washington D.C. to help with a hostage negotiation"

The acrobat's face lit up, "Perfect! Give me a sec to change" and he ran out of the room.

Clark gave a deep sigh he knew he was going to get in trouble with Bruce when the man found out but there was no way he could say not to those baby blue eyes. It would be like kicking a puppy if he said not the boy. He just shook his head at himself before following after the young crime fighter to go on their first mission together.

To say Bruce was mad when he returned would be an understatement. The dark knight was up in the watch tower with the boy scout and glaring hard.

"So, let me understand this correctly. You decided to take Richard out on a mission without my approval?" he glared.

Clark nodded knowing there was nothing he could do, "Then for the rest of the weekend you proceeded to take him on several more League missions?" another nod.

The dark knight's mood got even more menacing, "And not once did you think to call me and tell me what you were doing?" another nod. "You do realize that you will never be able to watch him again?"

The man of steel gave a defeated sigh, "I am sorry Bruce but he was pleading at me with those eyes and I could not say no. Plus, he did great out there and was not even hurt"

Batman raised an eyebrow at the crime fighter, "That is not the point and you know it"

Superman understood why Bruce was upset with him he would have been upset with himself too if their roles were reversed. All he could do was hope that Dick did not get in serious trouble and that he had not lost Batman's trust.

As if reading the man's mind Batman uncrossed his arms and relaxed his stance, "I will not hold this against you for too long seeing as how Dick was unharmed but don't ever do anything like this again or you will never be allowed near him" he said seriously.

Clark nodded quickly, "I understand and I really am sorry"

Satisfied with the conversation the dark knight left to go back home and congratulate Robin on how well he did on his missions. After all, he is Batman of course he knew what his son was doing while he was gone but he was not going to let Superman know that. With a smirk, the dark knight zeta beamed back to the cave to see Robin already training.

Four months after debut as Robin

"Robin go back to the cave" ordered Batman from their perch on one of the many abandoned warehouses by the docks.

Confused at the sudden order the young sidekick did not act right away as he stared at his mentor waiting for an explanation.

"Leave now" growled the dark crusader with no patience.

The little bird just crossed his arms he knew that Batman would explain if he showed enough stubbornness. He was rewarded after another few minutes of silence after the dark knight placed his binoculars back into his belt.

With narrowed eyes the older crime fighter looked at his partner, "Joker is in there and you are not ready for that yet."

Not deterred Robin shrugged, "What if I was your look out for any more backup. That way I can watch and learn until I am ready. I won't be able to improve if you keep sending me back to base every time we confront him" he argued logically.

Batman seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding in agreement, "Very well but if anything happens you are to call the league. I do not want you fighting him." He said with no room negotiation.

Happy with even being allowed to be on the streets while Joker was out of Arkham the bird quickly agreed and set himself up to watch over his mentor. Please with boy's attitude Batman made his way over to the target.

Robin watched carefully how Batman easily snuck into the building without being found out and the boy was thankful that the widow in the warehouse was busted out so that he could easily see inside and watch what happened. Joker was laughing hysterically at something when Batman jumped him from the shadows.

The boy wonder felt a cold chill run down his spine when he saw the crazy look in the clown's eye when he saw Batman. Now Robin understood why his partner did not want him near the crazy man. The bird's attention was drawn away from the fight in the middle of the warehouse when he saw movement behind his mentor.

"Batman someone is behind you" reported Robin quickly over the communicators and not a moment too soon because the dark knight managed to dodge a sneak attack just in time.

Harley Quinn was swinging around a giant hammer and Dick had no idea how she was doing it. Her arms did not seem strong enough to be wielding that thing as effortlessly as she did but Dick knew it had to be heavy with the small crater it left on the ground.

While his partner held the clown couple off Dick scanned the warehouse to the best of his ability from his vantage point. He could see a dark bulge in the far corner but too far away and at a bad angle to make out what it was.

"Hey, Bats I think there is something over your right shoulder but I can't make out what it is" stated Robin after his partner was able to separate himself from the criminal for a moment.

Instead of a reply Batman threw a smoke pellet on the ground and Robin could only assume he was using the cover to investigate the corner. His theory was proven correct when his mentor's gravelly voice came over the line.

"It was a bomb full of laughing gas. Good job Robin" he said before making quick work of the clowns and calling in the police.

Just as the cars were arriving Batman made his way back up to the roof his partner was on, "Nice work tonight Robin."

The acrobat glowed from the praise, "Do you think next time I can take down the henchmen?"

The dark knight's lips twitched into a smirk slightly, "We will see" he said as they made their way back to car to go home.

Two months later

Dick and Bruce were at a gala. Dick hated these events because he was still not really used to high society functions or appreciated the way all the rich people snubbed his back ground. He was standing next to Bruce, who was speaking to some business partners, and just trying to focus on getting through the night without embarrassing himself.

"Bruce" greeted a familiar blonde man.

The Wayne Enterprise CEO smiled at his fellow billionaire, "Good evening Oliver"

The two men shook hand before Olive turned his attention to the acrobat, "Hey their Dick. Good work these last few months" he said with a wink causing the boy to smile.

Bruce also smiled at the acrobat when he looked up to him, "I did not know you were going to be here tonight" said Bruce turning his attention back to the blonde.

Oliver scratched the back of his head with a shaky laugh, "Well I am actually here because I wanted to talk to Dick and I figure you would both be here tonight"

Both of the Gothamites looked at him in confusion causing him to explain further, "You see I recently took in a young ward but he doesn't seem to be too interested in this kind of thing and I was wondering if you would talk to him Dick. He hasn't really met anyone his age yet"

Dick was happy to be able to meet someone else in the same situation as himself and quickly agreed after Bruce gave his approval. Oliver turned around to look for his wayward ward before seeming to find him and beckoning him over to the small group.

"Bruce and Richard this is Roy Harper" introduced Oliver once the red headed teenager made it to them.

The red head did not seem to be thrilled to be meeting Oliver's friends as he just stared at them blankly. Bruce looked over to the blonde man saw him give a helpless look. It was clear that the boy was not happy being at this kind of event.

"Hi Roy, nice to meet you I am Dick" said the acrobat as he put his hand out to shake.

Roy looked at the smaller boy gave a huff of annoyance before shaking his hand in return quickly.

"Hey, Dick why, don't you and Roy go walk around outside. I heard that there is a nice garden out there" said Bruce after a moment of awkward silence.

Oliver also encouraged the boys to go and so the two found themselves outside in the cool air and not talking. Dick decided to try and break the awkward silence.

"So where did you meet Mr. Queen?"

Roy glared at him, "On the reservation" he said coldly.

Not fazed by the reply Dick quickly launched into another question, "What tribe?" he asked interested.

Surprised by the boy's interest Roy answered, "The Navajo" he used to other snubbing him for from a reservation.

"That's really cool. Can you speak any of their language?" Dick always liked to learn new things so he was truly interested in what the boy had to say.

Roy smiled at Dick's enthusiasm, "Only a little I didn't find it as interesting as archery"

"You can shoot a bow?" Dick as with a smirk, now it made sense why Oliver took in the teenager he must be a really good shot.

Roy puffed out his chest slightly, "I am a pretty good shot" he said with a wink.

By now Roy was enjoying the younger boy's company and was happy he was not like the other rich brats that where hanging around the Gala.

"So how often do you come to these things?" asked Roy as they continued to walk through the garden.

Dick groaned slightly, "Way too often. I hate these things and I feel like I am going to embarrass myself somehow"

Roy chuckled in agreement with that statement. Just then Dick pulled out his cellphone asked for the red heads number.

"This way we will know if we are at the same even again" he explained as they exchanged numbers.

Thankful for finally finding someone he could talk normally with the red head agreed before they made their way back inside. They found Bruce and Oliver and they said their good byes as the Gala started to wind down.

"What do you think of Roy?" asked Bruce as Alfred drove them back home.

Dick smiled brightly, "He is cool!" and then started to tell Bruce about what all they had talked about in the gardens.

Bruce smiled warmly glad that Dick now had something to look forward to at these events. He was feeling guilty for making the boy go to these things but at least now he had a friend he could suffer with.

One month later at the Watchtower.

The founding members were at an emergency meeting called by Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl. The men sat in their seats while the only two women stood at the head of the table ready for a battle.

"What's wrong with you two?" asked Green Lantern with a raised eyebrow.

Wonder Woman was the one who spoke with her regal voice, "It has come to our attention that some heroes are considering taking on sidekicks" she said with a dark look.

Batman barely suppressed an eyeroll. This was the emergency? The real emergency was that Dick was at home with a fever. He glanced to his side and could see that Superman was also annoyed.

"I do not see the problem" said J'onn who was confused about why the women were upset.

Hawkgirl clenched her mace as she glared at the men, "Children in the league will only make us look bad. We are not creating child soldiers"

Flash laughed at this, "Child soldiers? Are you kidding me?"

The women both glared at the scientist causing him to shrink back into his chair, "Yes Flash. We also, heard that you are going to be training your nephew" said the amazon.

The speedster crossed his arms over his chest, "Wally asked to be a crime fighter after a got his powers. I won't let him join unless goes through training. Just like Batman did with Robin. I don't see why you are getting your panties in a bunch"

Green Lantern decided to help his teammate out a little, "Yeah just look at how good of a job Robin does. I don't see a problem with sidekicks. After all they are being supervised and it better that we can keep an eye on them rather than them trying to do it themselves" he argued.

Hawkgirl glared at the man, "Those children will be put in harm's way for no reason. If they want to be crime fighters then they should wait until they are adults"

Superman huffed, "There is no age limit for wanting to help others. They are not being forced into this life. They are choosing it."

Batman stood up at this point, "Don't ever call me for something this imprudent again" he said before leaving the conference room.

Flash also stood up, "Sorry girls but I don't think you will win this battle" he said before speeding away.

Diana and Hawkgirl slumped in defeat while the others also filed out of the room. All they could do now was help in guiding the new generation and protect them as best as they could.


	10. Chapter 10

"Bruce!" called a young voice happily as he ran to his mentor.

Batman had been called to a league mission in Metropolis during patrol so, after dropping Robin off at the cave he went to location he was needed. The dark knight had given the boy instructions to get to bed but he knew that Dick would stay up and wait for his return. It was almost like a game they played but Bruce understood that the boy would not be able to relax until he saw his new family home safely.

Bruce gave a deep sigh as the boy ran up to him, "You are supposed to be in bed" he admonished but knew the boy would never listen.

"I am going now. Night Bruce" The nine-year-old smiled up at him before quickly scampering away up the stairs.

The billionaire watched after him fondly before turning his attention to the golden necklace he took from one the burglars earlier in the night. He did not know who the blonde woman was and he had a strong hunch she might be related to a league member.

After getting a fresh cup of coffee from Alfred, the dark knight started to type away on his computer to follow his lead.

Dick was bored out of his mind, Bruce was away for the day to drop Auntie Shiera off for a mission while Alfred was busy dusting one of the many rooms in the manor. It was Saturday and he was not going to spend the best day of the weekend doing his homework. So, he decided to spend his time training in the batcave.

Dick was in the middle of a gymnastics routine when a transmission came through. Putting on his mask the crime fighter flipped over to the large computer and inputted his access codes to accept the call. Robin was not surprised to see the Martian being the one to call the cave. The green alien seemed to always be the one on monitor duty so it was almost always him that would be calling league members.

"Hey uncle J'onn. What can I do for you?" asked the bird happily.

The Martian seemed to hesitate for a second, "There has been a problem"

Robin went tense, the league would only tell him if there was a problem if it involved Batman, "What happened?"

"You need to get a biohazard suit on and I will beam you up to the tower" was all the green man would say before cutting off the connection.

Confused but not willing to waste time if it was a life threatening matter the bird quickly changed as Alfred came down to the cave.

"Good heavens Master Robin, what are you doing?"

Dick had just zipped up the black sanitary suite and turned to face the elder, "I am needed at the tower. Stay inside Alfred I do not know what is happening"

The butler nodded before going over to the computer and pressing a few buttons to put the manor in lock down. Dick placed on the breathing mask and then he was suddenly beamed up to the tower.

This was his first time in the tower and he had wished it was under better circumstances. He quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he went into to Robin mode when J'onn flew over to him.

"There has been an outbreak of some kind and the league has been compromised" he informed as they made their way quickly down the hallways to the medical bay.

The heavy door slid open to reveal Superman, Flash, Green Lantern and lastly Batman all in hospital beds with tubes and wires connected to them. Robin froze for a second but quickly pushed his emotions to the side as he turned to the Martian.

"What do we know about it?" he asked as he grabbed Flash's medical clip board from his bed to skim over.

Batman had trained him thoroughly in different forms of medicine, mostly because of all the different criminals they dealt with that liked to use gases or drugs to cause mayhem. He could see that whatever the disease was it was man made and targeting the heart and lungs at a slow rate.

"From what I have gathered it is an agent that only targets males"

The bird seemed surprised for a second then he thought about what he had seen Batman working on earlier in the day, "Was it the amazons?" he asked.

J'onn was impressed by the quick deduction of the young hero, he was trained well, and nodded, "Yes, one who is determined to see men parish. You will need to keep that suit on until we have determined a cure"

Robin nodded in agreement, he did not want to catch this, "Are Martians not effected?"

"I have yet to determine that. But even if I am susceptible there is not antidote yet so I will try my best to assist you until I am unable" he replied with determination.

Satisfied with the information he was given the boy wonder started to look through the blood samples and other tests to try and figure out what caused this.

It was just after lunch time when the med bay got a call. Robin had just put J'onn down on one of the beds and hooked him up to the monitors when he saw Hawkgirl's face.

"Robin? What are you doing there?" she asked confused as she stared at the little boy surrounded by the sick men.

The bird ignored the question, "Do you have the compound?"

The Thangarian was startled at how mature the boy was acting in this situation but nodded none the less as she made her way to the watch tower.

Robin's shoulder released some of their tension, "Good, meet me in the med bay"

In less than a few minutes the winged woman was in the tower and handing off the vile to the young acrobat. She did not want to leave him alone with such a dangerous item but she knew she had to get back to help Wonder Woman or else things could get a lot worse.

"Don't worry I got this. Feeling totally whelmed right now." The young boy said with a bright smile as he started to do some tests.

Satisfied with the comment Hawkgirl raced from the tower and back to help her teammate.

Superman and Green Lantern handed out the last of the antidotes to the hospitals and made their way back to the ship.

"Good thing an antidote was made in time" Said Flash as the founders met on the observation platform.

Wonder Woman looked off to the side where she could see an excited Robin talking animatedly to Batman and chuckled slightly, "It was a good thing Robin was here to help"

J'onn nodded in agreement, "Yes the boy was instrumental in being able to find a cure. It would not have been made in time if he was not there"

At that moment Superman and Green Lantern returned to join the founders as they watched the little bird fly around the emotionless bat.

"Who would have thought that Batman would be the one to have a kid?" questioned Flash as he snacked on some popcorn.

Green Lantern chuckled, "How is that nephew of yours doing?"

A few weeks later

After the incident where almost all the men on earth had been killed a lot of the criminals laid low for a while. But that was only temporary and groups were starting to make their moves again. It was supposed to be an easy smuggling ring operation with low level criminals who had no idea what they were doing. Or at least that is what the dynamic duo had thought. They had observed the warehouse for a week and watched their movements. It seemed like this was their first time running this kind of operation. It was almost better for them to get caught by the bat rather than by whose ever land they were trying to operate on.

Robin had been around for little over half a year now and he was having the time of his life. He never thought that he would ever be able to be this happy after his parents died but he was glad he had Bruce, someone to understand what he was going through.

Said man was crouched next to him in black cape and cowl as he looked across the street at their target, "Robin" he said lowly to not attract attention, "I will enter through the front. You take the back and catch anyone who tries to escape"

The bird gave a salute before quietly jumping off the building and getting in position to wait for the signal. It only took a minute. It took just as fast to knock out all the smugglers and have them bound and ready for the police.

"That seemed too easy" observed Robin as they tied up the last man.

As if in response to his statement a deranged laughter filled the old building. Batman tensed and pulled out a battarang looking for the cause of the voice. Robin readied himself as well, he had heard this laugh enough times in his nightmares from when he had been kidnapped from school.

The joker in his bright purple suit waltzed out from the shadows without a care in the world, "Very good brat" he chuckled darkly.

Batman shifted his body to place himself between the crazy man and his partner, "What are you up to Joker?" he growled.

The clown shrugged helplessly, "Oh Batsy what was I to do? You would never let me introduce myself to your sidekick. Always, whisking him away whenever I got too close." He said with a gleam in his eye.

The dark knight glared at the clown before talking to Robin, "Go back to the cave" he ordered.

The younger crime fighter was about to protest until he sat Batman's look. He shut his mouth and decided to wait until they got back to base before having this discussion. He turned around and ran to the warehouse door while his partner watched the clown. But before he could get very far an explosion to his right sent the young boy crashing into the far wall.

"Robin!" yelled Batman in surprise as he raced to his partner's side.

Luckily the boy was not seriously injured thanks to his suit but he was still dazed as Batman helped him to his feet. Joker all the while was laughing like a maniac.

"Not yet Batsy. I haven't played with him yet." He snickered while pulled a remote out of his pocket to show off, "I have rigged this place to blow. If you try that again then we all die" he said with a grand gesture to the smugglers that were still tied up and themselves.

After checking the bird for injury Batman turned to face the villain, ready to fight. Seeing this, Joker quickly grabbed a metal pipe from atop one of the many crates to fight with. The two men charged at each other. Batman punching and kicking while Joker dodged and laughed. Robin watched, waiting for an opening to get the remote. Realizing that one was not going to come easily the bird began to look around the warehouse for the bombs but they were hidden well or the clown could be lying. The bird gave an annoyed huff as he glanced back at the fight to see his mentor still holding his own against the crazed clown.

Robin subtly made his way over to the bound smugglers, "Stay quiet and we will all get out of this alive" he said seriously and the men nodded quickly.

He pulled the still handcuffed group to their feet and made them follow him along the shadows of the wall while Batman kept the clown occupied. Making it to a side exit door Robin pulled out an exploding birdarang and blew the door off and quickly pushed the men through before the clown could trigger a bomb.

As the last man ran through Batman called out to the bird causing Robin to turn around and dodge a swing from a pipe just in time.

"That is not how you play the game bird boy" growled the clown as he continued to try and land a hit on the boy.

Robin let out a cackle, "Who said we were playing your game?" said the bird as he flipped around the purple clad man.

Joker paused for a moment before his crazed smile brightened, "Oh bird boy I think we will get along greatly" he chuckled.

Robin was breathing a little heavily from his dodging game but did not move from his defensive stance as the clown started to laugh crazily.

"I have an idea" stated the clown suddenly as he pulled out the remote with a big red button, "Why don't we celebrate tonight with a bang?" he exclaimed happily and smashed his thumb onto the receiver.

….

Confused the green haired man pressed it again. Nothing. Annoyed he turned around to see all of the bombs he had placed around the building sitting in the middle of the warehouse. The clowns smile turned sour as he glared at the boy who was chuckling to himself.

"nice meeting ya" he said with a cackle.

Hearing footsteps the Joker turned around just in time for Batman to punch him in the face and knock him out.

"Well that was whelming" said the bird as he joined his partner.

Batman smirked down at his partner, "Good job" he said before making his way to the batmobile.

Two Months Later- Central City

The dynamic duo was perched on one of the high-rise buildings. Robin was very excited to meet the new kid hero, Kid Flash. The new vigilante had not been around for a month yet but Flash had asked for the two to meet and Batman agreed after being badgered a few times by the scarlet man.

"Hey Bats" came a jolly greeting.

The man in question rolled his eyes behind his mask as he nodded in greeting and turned his attention back to the warehouse he was watching. Robin chuckled as he flipped off the ledge of the roof and ran up to the speedster.

"Hey Flash. Where is the new guy?"

In the next second a boy dressed in sunshine yellow zoomed next to his uncle's side. He glanced between his uncle and the two visitors on the roof and gaped at the dark knight.

"That's batman" he exclaimed excitedly to his uncle.

Flash chuckled lightly, "Yes and this is Robin. Say hi." He said nudging his nephew forward to meet the little bird.

Robin put out a fist and the red head smirked as he returned the fist bump, "Nice to meet ya."

A rustle of clothing was heard as Batman stood behind the youths, "Flash you and I will take the warehouse. They are starting to move. Robin and Kid Flash watch the perimeter and let us know if anything changes"

Robin nodded as he flipped over to the ledge to get ready to watch. Kid Flash was gaping at the dark man like a fish and trying to process what was just said to him.

Flash nodded at Batman before the cape crusader propelled off the roof to start the mission. The scarlet speedster knelt in front of his nephew and grabbed his shoulders to get his attention.

"Kid you are going to stay here with Robin. Listen to what he says like if it was me telling you something" he said seriously, causing the teenager to nod before he sped away.

"how long have you been a sidekick?" Wally asked the bird that was perched on the ledge of the building.

Robin put away his binoculars and gave the red head a small smile, "A little over a year."

The red head was surprised, he did not realize how long the bird had been on the crime fighting scene but then again it was typical of Batman to keep things hidden. He looked over the small boy and could not imagine this kid being able to take down villains.

"How old are you anyway? Like seven?" he asked curiously.

The raven looked at the red head with a smirk, "I just turned ten. But started training when I was eight" he chuckled at the speedsters surprised look.

"Dude that is cool"

Robin pulled out a small ear piece, "Here if you ever want to talk you can reach me with this" smiled the younger boy.

Wally smiled as he put it in one of his pockets and then the two turned to their task at hand. Bruce was glad that Robin now had someone to talk to in the crime fighting world he just wished it did not include having to be around the speedsters too often. But he was willing to do anything to keep the boy happy.

 **I hope this chapter was enjoyable :) sorry it is short but i am leaving for a family vacation in the next few days so I have not had time to make it longer.**

 **Also, pairings will be happening in the future as the boys start to get older and young justice and the justice league become bigger characters. So please leave a comment if their are any couples you want to see :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**This Chapter is a little rough I wrote it on the plane ride back from vacation with the family. I hope it is tolerable and I promise that the next few chapter will be more action packed and we will have some new characters that we want to see ;)**

The rainy season rolled into Gotham. Batman and Robin seemed to be extremely busy in the last few weeks as they tried to keep the mayhem under control.

"Master Bruce, do you think it is wise to be having a child out in this weather multiple days in a row" asked the faithful butler as he brought a mug of coffee to the study.

The billionaire was in the middle of reviewing progress reports from Wayne Enterprises, when Alfred had made his statement.

"His suit is insulated" he answered distractedly.

Alfred raised a slender eyebrow as he placed the mug on the stack of paper the CEO was looking at. Realizing that this was a serious conversation Bruce put down his pen and gave his care taker his full attention.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

The Englishmen gave a perturbed sigh, "Sir, have you not noticed the young master during this last week?"

Not enjoying the game that his butler was playing Bruce glared slightly, "Notice what?"

Instead of answering Alfred just gave him a disappointed look before leaving the study. Bruce groaned, now what was he supposed to do? He glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost time for patrol.

With a groan from sitting too long the vigilante made his way over to the grandfather clock. The cave was already lit up indicating someone beat him downstairs. Looking around Bruce spotted a certain bird warming up on the mats.

Bruce stood off to the side for a moment thinking about what Alfred had said, so he decided to see what the butler could have been talking about. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary now, Dick was doing a few stretches. Then the acrobat started warming up on the dummy throwing some punches and kicks, that was it. That was strange, normally Dick would be doing an array of flips to practice staying out of the reach of criminals.

"Dick come here a moment" Bruce called out to the ten-year-old.

The raven jogged over with a large smile, "What are we doing tonight B?" he asked out of breath.

Very strange, the boy should not be winded from a light warm up like that. With a hypothesis in mind the detective looked over the young crime fighter. Raven hair was glistening with sweat and his olive skin was a few shades lighter than normal.

Before the boy could protest Bruce placed the back of his hand on the boy's forehead and could immediately feel the heat of a fever, "You have a cold"

Dick jumped back and shrugged, "I was just working out"

Bruce was not deterred, "no patrol tonight. I should not have taken you this many days in a row, stay home and get some rest"

The acrobat was about to argue when Alfred made his appearance, "Young master, do not forget that you have an English exam in a few days"

This caused the young vigilante to hesitate for a moment, "Fine. But if you need help call me" he grumbled before running back upstairs to study.

Bruce chuckled as he watched him. He turned his attention to Alfred who looked amused but still seemed annoyed with his oldest charge.

"I am pleased with tonight's decision sir, but you need to be more aware that the Master Richard is a child. He only wishes to help and please you so he will be the last person to tell you when he is unwell or unable to do something." He said with his crisp accent.

Bruce nodded in understanding, it was his fault for not watching Dick close enough. That last thing that he wanted was for the boy to be unwell or injure himself because he was pushing him beyond his limits.

Pleased that the billionaire understood Alfred let to go and make sure that Dick took some medicine leaving Bruce to suit up for patrol.

The next morning Bruce made his way to his wards room. Worried about the fever he had felt the previous night. He quietly opened the door not wanting to wake the boy, his alarm was not due to go off for another hour but he was on his way to a board meeting.

The vigilante peered down at the small body and his brows scrunched in dismay. Dick's cheeks were red and his breathing was slightly labored as he fidgeted in sleep. Softly he checked the boy's temperature to find is warmed than the previous night. With a deep sigh Bruce tucked the young crime fighter in better and turned off his alarm.

"Alfred, let Dick sleep in today. I will call the school on my way to work" Bruce said to the ever-faithful butler that was ready in the kitchen with a scone and cup of coffee.

The Englishman nodded, "Yes sir." He had a feeling this would happen but took it in stride.

With a guilty heart Bruce grabbed his travel mug of coffee and drove to Wayne Enterprises. Throughout the day he was texting Alfred for updates on the boy. He was glad that Dick was staying in bed and sleeping most of the day but was still guilty of letting his charge get so sick without noticing.

He was in the middle of reviewing a quarterly report when his justice league comm link alerted him. With an annoyed huff, he answered Green Lantern while glancing out at the setting sun.

He could hear reporters in the background as Lantern told him to meet him soon. Without a reply, the dark knight left his office and suited up in the Batplane that was waiting on top of Wayne Enterprises.

The caped crusader met the rest of the league on the top of an apartment building curious what the former marine had to say. He had checked the news to see that J'onn and him had let Shade get away but caught some of his goons.

"What's the problem" the boy scout asked.

Stewart stated that they were not working together as a team and that a lot of their success has solely been due to luck. The other tried to protest the marine's idea of practicing team work but the Martian stated that they had the possibility of having the same results as tonight if they did not.

Hawkgirl was the first to reply, "What do we have to lose?"

Thinking of his sick ward who he needed to care for Bruce countered, "Time" with his arms crossed and no explanation.

Of course, the boy scout was ready to agree with his teammates with a not so subtle glance at the man dressed in black. With a mental growl Batman agreed before leaving the rest of the founding members to head home.

After doing a brief patrol of the city, glad that none of the super villains had decided to act up that night, Batman was home early.

"How is he?" asked the billionaire when he met Alfred a few feet away from Dick's bedroom.

The butler gave him a concerned look, "The young master's fever has not broken yet. If it does not go down by tomorrow night I think it would be wise to call Dr. Leslie."

Concerned Bruce agreed before making his way into the room. Dick was awake but he was clearly uncomfortable as he coughed roughly into his elbow and turned the page in his textbook. The boy wonder was not good at sitting still and Bruce gave a fond sigh as he swiftly plucked the thick book from the boy's lap before he could react.

"You need to rest" he said as he sat down on the side of the bed and observed his sick ward.

The boy's glossy eyes met his in an irritated scowl as he crossed his arms, "I need to stay up on my studies for when I can go back to school" he argued.

Bruce rose an eyebrow before opening he book to the page that Dick had been on, "Who said 'Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once'?"

The acrobat bit his lip as he tried to remember the scene he had just read, "Brutus?" he asked hopefully.

Snapping the book shut and placing it on the nightstand Bruce chuckled, "Nope, don't worry about your studies. Focus on resting and getting better and you won't be out of school that long"

Dick groaned, he had just read that scene and now he was annoyed that he had wasted the last two hours of studying to not even remember it. But he saw wisdom in his guardian's words and nodded in agreement.

"So, did you stop any bad guys tonight?" he asked hopefully, he loved to hear about Batman's adventures even if he was sad he didn't get to patrol.

The dark knight shook his head, "You didn't miss much. Now get some rest chum" he said fondly as he pulled the comforter up to tuck the boy in.

The acrobat snuggled into the warmth, "Good night Bruce" he said sleepily as his exhaustion that he had been ignoring caught up with him.

The following morning Batman found himself in Nevada with the other founding league members. The setting was an old western town set up. Bruce almost scoffed at the ridiculous setting but kept to himself with the intent to get this done as quickly as possible so he could get back to manor.

The group before him had just finished as Hawkgirl was blown away by a robot when she ignored the warnings by J'onn and Superman. Lantern liked to show off his experience of working with a team as he lectured the Thangarian and Bruce was not amused. There was a reason why he worked alone because he did not want to have to look out for rookies who could not even take the time to observe a situation.

He was up next with Flash and Wonder Woman and was about to walk out onto the practice field when his PDA alerted him to a message.

' _The young master has not shown signs of improvement. I have called Dr. Leslie'_

Without replying the dark knight pocketed the device and made his way onto the practice field and made quick work of the practice dummies. Wonder woman and Flash showed their distaste of the way the Bat handled the exercise but he did not care.

"Happy?" he asked Stewart as he walked past him on his way towards his plane.

Not receiving a reply, he tacked on, "Call me when it is important and not before" with the thought of a ten-year-old sick in bed that needed his attention.

On his way, back to Gotham Batman sees the news about how a mansion was broken into and biohazard tanks had been opened and the mansion destroyed. Torn about what to do Bruce called the mansion to find out how Dick was fairing.

"The young master's fever has started to go down and Dr. Leslie believes it will break by the morning" reported the butler with a relieved smile when he answered the call.

Bruce was happy to hear the news, "There is something I need to investigate" he reported hesitantly to his father figure.

Alfred gave him a knowing look, "Master Dick should be asleep until the morning thanks to his medicine"

The vigilante nodded as he gave himself a mental clocked and cut the connection as he flew towards the crime scene. After a quick at the scene he found out that the canisters once held Clayface and interrogated some of the survivors of the attack. This was not good, it sounded like a group of villains were grouping together again thought the Dark Knight as he flew home.

A couple of nights later Batman was scouting out a chemical company that he knew Clayface would attack. The man was predictable in his need for a cure to be human again. His theory was proven correct as he saw the giant mass sneak into the facility. Before the villain could take what he was after Batman threw an electric battarang to paralyze his opponent for a moment. The Dark Knight was not surprised when the rest of the villains stepped out of the shadows and tried to intimidate the vigilante.

"You didn't think I would come here without reinforcement, did you?" asked Clayface sarcastically as he towered over the Gothamite.

Bruce gave a mental smirk, "Wish I thought of that" he replied as the entrance behind him exploded and his teammates burst into the room, "Oh wait, I did" he smirked.

The fight began and Green Lantern's team building exercises had not seemed to work. Robin was sitting across the street watching the fight and look out for Batman if anyone else showed up. When the boy wonder saw the secret society make their escape he looked down at his watch and let out a small groan. The Justice League had been defeated in less than ten minutes, Batman was not going to be happy.

He jumped down from the building and made his way over to the warehouse to check on the heroes. All his aunts and uncles were unconscious but thankfully no one looked seriously injured. The bird fluttered over to the dark knight's side and lightly shook his shoulder to wake him up.

"Good team building" the boy chuckled when his mentor came to.

Robin could clearly see the glare he was receiving even with the cowl on but shrugged it off as he observed the other heroes getting to their feet. Without even a breath to check on each other the adults launched into a fight and Robin was confused about what he was supposed to do as he and Batman stood off to the side.

The atmosphere turned icy when Superman said he had considered going back to working solo so he did not have to worry about the others. Robin stared wide eyed at the man of steel and was about to protest but Batman rested his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"This group was your idea and now you don't want to do it anymore?" asked Flash in angry confusion with the alien.

Wonder Woman tried to put all the blame on men and now Dick was getting more upset with his Aunt and Uncles and did not understand what was happening. The boy felt a ray of hope when J'onn yelled at all of them to stop, thinking that the normally level-headed Martian would get them back to their senses. But instead he felt a lead drop in his stomach as the green skinned man walked out on them.

The acrobat could feel tears start to form under his mask as all the other heroes turned from each other and Bruce lead him out of the building towards the Batmobile. The car ride was silent as the boy tried to fight off his tears, he needed to get his emotions under control or Bruce would take him off patrol tomorrow night.

"Don't worry, chum. This is just a bump in the road" said the vigilante as he weaved through traffic on the way to the manor.

Dick wiped his eyes and gave a deep breath before turning to his mentor with his normal smile, "Your right. Once we catch these guys we can go back to normal"

Batman nodded in agreement glad that his bird was not upset anymore. But not voicing his thoughts that his teammates were prideful people and might not be able to put the past behind themselves.

Two weeks later

Robin was asleep in the passenger seat of the Batplane with a spare black blanket draped around his shoulders. Bruce was impressed with the boy's performance tonight. Bane had been trying to import drug and guns into Gotham from Santa Prisca and Robin had been a big help in taking down the large man but sadly the bird had been ruffed up causing Bruce to give him some pain medicine to help him sleep on the flight home.

"Yo Bats come on, pick up I know you are there" called a familiar voice through speaker in the Batplane.

Robin grunted in annoyance at the voice and shifted in his seat and Batman hope this would not wake the boy up from his needed rest.

"What do you want?" he asked, not willing to just cut the call with the man.

Flash had been one of his supporters when Dick had started his career as a vigilante and reliable.

"I have bitten off a little more than I can chew with Sinestro. I need a little help here" came a slightly pleading voice from Flash.

Confused why he would be fighting that villain Batman replied with the first thing that came to mind, "I thought you didn't need any?"

He glanced over to Robin and saw that he was awake now and yawning as he fixed his mask that had gone askew, "Well I need it now. I am at the old North Hill subway platform. Hurry" he said before the line cut off.

Robin was already using the onboard computer to locate Flash's location just in case the man had to run from the area.

The Dark Knight carefully made his way down the dark tunnel until he came up the battle scene. Sinestro was on the ground and Flash standing over him.

 _"Watch out B. His heat signature looks funny"_ chirped his partner over the earpiece.

"Looks like I didn't need you after all." Stated Flash with a cocky smile and hands on his hips, "But you can help me tie him up"

Testing a theory Batman pulled out his taser and shot it at the speedster and hit him in the chest revealing Clayface, "The real Flash would have been too fast for that"

He heard a cackle over the earpiece, his ward seemed to like the way he tested that he thought with a small smirk. Robin was ready to jump out and help his mentor when he saw the rest of the secret society reveal themselves but the bat signaled him to stay hidden.

They villians made quick work of knocking the bat out and moving him for transport. The bat managed get a tracker on Grundy before making his way to the Batplane and following.

The bird was surprised when he made it their cave to find the rest of the league members caught and help in containment pods or frozen in J'onn's case. Pulling out some of his fun tools the boy was checking on everyone's condition when he noted something strange.

"Hey J'onn can you hear me?" asked Robin.

 _'Robin, where are you?'_ came the uncomfortable feeling of the mental link.

The boy held his head from the small forming headache as he tried to keep his attention on the scene below him, "Yeah, I am up in the small cavern" he whispered in reply.

He was still having a hard time reply mentally without saying the words out loud but he was getting there. He noticed movement right below him and saw Green Lantern creep behind the villains but before he could his attention Grodd called out the former Marine.

Sinestro attacked the free hero causing the ceiling to start falling. Robin yelped in surprise when his perch crumbled out from under him. He quickly shot of a grappling hook and tried to find another hiding spot to see where he could help. Robin was impressed with Stewarts decoy to get two of criminals out of the cavern and almost laughed out loud.

Stewart was about to get the league free when Sinestro flew back in and almost hit him with his fake lantern light. But Clayface knocked the man out against the cave wall.

 _J'onn are you Clayface?_ Robin tried to ask over the mind link without having to say it out loud.

He could hear the Martian chuckled in the back of his mind, _well done_ was all he said before having his attention pulled towards Sinestro.

Robin was back in the Batplane and following Grodd's ship as they landed in Gotham Stadium. Just great now there was a ton of civilians that he had to worry about and his only ally was J'onn who was trying to keep his cover.

Robin managed to slink he was down onto the field, waiting for the signal to help. Luckily it came quickly and was obvious, J'onn smashed the controls holding the hero's captive and revealed how he tricked them. The fight quickly escalated and Robin coordinated the police to get the crowd evacuated once he had that going the young crime fighter turned his attention to the show.

Grodd was attacking Lantern with his mental attacks and the boy threw an electric charged Batarang at the gorilla. The prime ape growled in irritation and turned his attention towards the ten-year-old.

"Hiya" waved the acrobat before flipping off the stage and out of sight.

He looked for his mentor and ran across the field to where he was fighting off Shade. As the villains was running away holding his now broken hand thanks to Superman, Robin threw a pair of bolas at him and tying up the man's feet.

"Thanks" he heard Batman saying to the man of steel and chuckled, earning a slight glare from his mentor.

Last to go down, or up, was Clayface thanks to a large supply of fireworks that Flash placed all over the blob. The crowd cheered for their heroes as the fireworks lit up the stadium.

"Congrats on your teamwork" exclaimed Dick with a mischievous smile, earning a hair ruffle and laughter from his aunts and uncles.


End file.
